. 


H 
5 


VERY  REV. 

CHARLES  HYACINTH  McKENNA 

O.P.,  P.G. 


Fr.  ARTHUBIUS  C.  O'NEIL,  O.P.,  S.T.L. 
Fr.  JACOBUS  G.  OWENS,  O.P.,  S.T.L. 


Fr.  RAYMUNDUS  MEAGHER,  O.P.,  S.T.L. 

Prior  Provincialis. 

mprimatur  : 

JACOBUS  CARDINALIS  GIBBONS, 

Archiepiscopus  Baltimorensis. 
Baltimore,  July  9,  1917. 


(1886.) 


JERY  REV. 


CHAKLES  HYACINTH  McKEMA 

O.P.,  P.G. 

MISSIONARY  AND  APOSTLE  OF 
THE  HOLY  NAME  SOCIETY  . 


BY 

VERY  REV.  V.  F.  O'DANIEL,  O.P.,  S.T.M. 


THE  HOLY  NAME  BUREAU 

871  LEXINGTON  AVENUB 

NEW  YORK 

1917 


Copyright,  1917 

By  V.  F.  O'DANIEL.  O.  P. 

First  Edition,  October,  1917. 

New  Edition,  December,  1917. 


PRESS  OF 

THE  NEW  ERA  PRINTING  COMPANY 
LANCASTER,  PA. 


TO 

THE  HOLY  NAME  SOCIETY 
AND 

THE  ROSARY  CONFRATERNITY  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

TO  WHICH  FATHER  MCKENNA  GAVE 
MANY  OF  HIS  BEST  YEARS 

THIS  BOOK  IS  RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PACK 

FOREWORD   xi 

I.     BIRTHPLACE  AND  LINEAGE 1 

II.     EARLY  CHILDHOOD  AND  EDUCATION 8 

III.     LAST  YEARS  IN  IRELAND  AND  FIRST  IN  AMERICA     £1 

IV.     COLLEGE  DAYS  AND  NOVITIATE 33 

V.     CLERICAL  STUDENT    50 

VI.     ORDINATION,  YOUNG  PRIEST  AND  MASTER  OP 

NOVICES 61 

VII.     EARLY   MISSIONS — SAINT   VINCENT   FERRER'S, 

NEW  YORK    79 

VIII.     IN  NEW  YORK  :  ON  THE  MISSIONS 93 

IX.     SUCCESS  AND  FAILURE  :  SICKNESS 104 

X.     INFLUENCE  OF  FATHER  "  TOM  "  BURKE 123 

XI.     THE  MISSIONS 131 

XII.     LABORS  AND  METHOD 141 

XIII.  PRIOR  IN  LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY 157 

XIV.  PREACHER  GENERAL:  HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS.    171 
XV.     A  VARIED  APOSTOLATE 183 

XVI.     MAGNETIC  ZEAL:  FIRST  VISIT  TO  ROME 198 

XVII.     RETURN  TO  THE  MISSIONS:  PRIOR  IN  OHIO.  .  .    218 

XVIII.     DEVOTION  TO  His  PATRON  SAINTS 234 

XIX.     RESIGNS  AS  HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS:  GOES  TO 

EUROPE 242 

XX.     FRIENDSHIPS  AND  VOCATIONS 261 

XXI.     FRUITFUL  LABORS 273 

XXII.     DIRECTOR  OF  THE  ROSARY  AND  HOLY  NAME 

SOCIETIES    292 

XXIII.  MODEL  PRIEST  AND  MISSIONARY 306 

XXIV.  PILGRIMAGE  TO  THE  HOLY  LAND 316 

XXV.     THE  HOLY  NAME  SOCIETY  AND  THE  ROSARY 

CONFRATERNITY     335 

XXVI.     A  NOBLE  ENDING , 353 

XXVII.     AN  INVALID 371 

XXVIII.     DEATH,  BURIAL,  FINAL  HONORS 382 

INDEX 395 

vii 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Very  Rev.  C.  H.  McKenna,  O.P.,  in  1886 Frontispiece 

Saint  Mary's  Church,  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania 25 

Charles  McKenna  as  a  Student  at  Sinsinawa  Mound 37 

Saint  Joseph's  Priory  and  Church,  Somerset,  Ohio 46 

Saint  Rose's  Church  and  Priory,  Springfield,  Kentucky.  .  .  60 

Rev.  C.  H.  McKenna  at  Ordination 76 

Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's  Church,  New  York 88 

Very  Rev.  C.  H.  McKenna,  as  Prior  at  Louisville,  Kentucky  167 

Very  Rev.  C.  H.  McKenna  in  the  Holy  Land 325 

Very  Rev.  C.  H.  McKenna  in  his  seventy-eighth  year 353 

Father  McKenna  in  his  last  days 375 

Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's  Convent,  New  York 383 


ix 


FOREWORD. 

THE  life  of  the  Very  Rev.  Charles  Hyacinth  Mc- 
Kenna,  O.P.,  which  we  now  give  to  the  public,  has 
been  not  only  a  work  of  love,  but  one  of  obedience. 
It  has  been  a  work  of  love  because  written  under  the 
inspiration  of  esteem  and  veneration  for  the  saintly  re- 
ligious— of  obedience,  for  the  task  was  undertaken  at 
the  request  of  the  Very  Rev.  James  Raymond 
Meagher,  provincial  of  the  eastern  province  of  Domin- 
icans in  the  United  States,  whose  high  regard  for  the 
great  missionary  and  Apostle  of  the  Holy  Name  caused 
him  to  desire  to  have  the  memory  of  so  holy  a  priest 
preserved  for  the  edification  of  future  generations. 

It  was  a  fortunate  circumstance  that  the  request  to 
prepare  the  biography  of  the  distinguished  Friar 
Preacher  was  received  two  years  prior  to  his  death. 
For,  in  this  way,  time  was  given  in  which  to  collect 
leisurely  much  valuable  data  for  our  narrative  before 
its  subject  was  called  to  his  reward.  Of  even  greater 
importance  was  the  opportunity  thus  afforded  of  de- 
riving a  great  part  of  the  information  contained  in  this 
volume  from  Father  McKenna  himself.  A  man 
totally  devoid  of  guile,  the  aged  apostle,  in  the  course 
of  numerous  conversations  and  without  the  least  sus- 
picion that  he  was  supplying  material  for  his  own  life, 
laid  bare  his  very  soul  to  the  writer.  But  this  was  no 
more  than  he  would  have  done  to  anyone  in  whom  he 
trusted.  To  make  the  holy  man's  life-story  the  more 
complete  and  accurate,  the  assistance  of  several  of  his 
confidential  friends,  who  were  in  sympathy  with  the  un- 


xii  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

dertaking,  was  secured  in  obtaining  such  first-hand 
knowledge.  When  these  aids  had  conversed,  by  pre- 
arrangement,  with  the  unsuspecting  missioner  on  the 
same  topics  and  along  the  same  lines,  notes  were  taken 
and  comparisons  made.  In  every  instance  it  was 
found  that  the  account  given  was  identical  in  sub- 
stance. 

Fortunately,  also,  the  writer  had  not  only  known 
Father  McKenna  long  and  intimately,  but  had  lived 
with  him  for  two  years.  During  this  time  we  learned 
much  of  his  life,  as  well  as  made  notes  on  his  fruitful 
labors  previous  to  beginning  his  biography.  Another 
valuable  help  in  our  work  were  innumerable  accounts 
of  Dominican  missions  collected  from  papers,  both 
Catholic  and  secular,  from  almost  every  part  of  the 
country.  These  missions  were  frequent  topics  of  con- 
versation with  the  zealous  harvester  of  souls  during  the 
two  years  that  preceded  his  death,  and  proved  a  fertile 
means  of  information  regarding  his  apostolic  labors. 

Happily,  too,  the  aged  missionary,  though  weak  and 
infirm  of  body,  retained  an  unimpaired  mentality  and 
a  ready  and  retentive  memory,  and  continued  to  take  a 
keen  interest  in  all  matters  that  concerned  the  Church 
and  his  Order,  or  that  made  for  the  good  of  souls. 
Never,  perhaps,  in  all  his  life  was  he  in  better  mood 
for  conversation  or  in  better  condition  for  imparting 
the  facts  of  which  we  were  in  search.  For  these  rea- 
sons, much  of  this  volume  might  with  truth  be  termed 
autobiographical.  The  remaining  portion  is  either 
knowledge  common  to  thousands,  or  which  has  been  de- 
rived from  Father  McKenna's  friends  and  relations 
or  from  whatever  source  that  was  judged  reliable. 

To  have   written   a   sketch   or   an   appreciation   of 


FOREWORD.  xiii 

Father  McKenna,  giving  merely  the  broad  outlines 
and  touching  slightly  on  the  principal  events  of  his 
life,  would  have  been  comparatively  an  easy  task. 
But  to  write  his  biography,  which  required  us  to 
follow  him  year  by  year,  as  he  labored  through  all 
the  country  and  grew  in  merit  and  favor  before  God 
and  man,  was  quite  another  matter.  His  apostolic 
career  covered  nearly  half  a  century,  through  all  of 
which  his  activities,  though  far-reaching  and  richer  in 
results  than  the  lives  of  most  of  God's  chosen  servants, 
ran  along  such  unvarying  lines  that  it  was  impossible 
to  avoid  some  repetition  and  sameness  of  detail. 
Herein,  indeed,  lies  the  writer's  greatest  apprehension, 
lest  the  narrative  may  at  times  be  found  somewhat 
tedious  and  tiresome.  Yet,  to  make  such  a  possibility 
the  more  remote  we  have  endeavored  not  to  adhere  too 
closely  to  an  account  of  the  great  friar's  efforts  to  pro- 
mote the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls. 
Perhaps  in  places  we  have  been  even  too  meager  in 
the  portrayal  of  his  work,  that  in  this  way  we  might 
avoid  repetition.  Again,  Father  McKenna's  labors 
were  so  entwined  with  the  Dominican  missions,  the 
Holy  Name  Society,  the  Rosary  Confraternity  and 
other  sodalities  in  the  United  States  that  it  was  hard 
to  write  his  life  without  at  the  same  time  writing  their 
histories.  The  difficulty  of  our  task  was  increased  by 
a  lack  of  records  and  the  impossibility  of  obtaining 
many  letters  from  the  missionary's  pen.  Father  Mc- 
Kenna left  few  writings  to  draw  upon  for  his  life. 
But  his  work  was  written  upon  the  hearts  of  the  thou- 
sands to  whom  he  preached  or  brought  the  love  of 
God  and  peace  of  soul.  Yet  extraordinary  as  were 
his  apostolic  activities,  they  were — after  all — subordi- 
nate to  his  inner  life. 


xiv  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

We  would  that  the  telling  of  the  story  had  fallen 
into  more  competent  hands.  Yet  we  venture  to  hope 
that  our  biography  will  not  lack  in  interest,  for  it 
reveals  the  working  of  grace  in  the  soul  of  a  man  over 
whom  the  Divine  Master  seems  to  have  exercised  a 
special  providence,  although  He  subjected  him  to 
trials  not  usually  found  «ven  in  the  lives  of  the  saints. 
To  young  men  aspiring  to  the  service  of  the  altar, 
but  deprived  of  the  means  of  attaining  their  holy  am- 
bition, Father  McKenna's  life  cannot  fail  to  be  an  in- 
spiration. To  Christ's  anointed  it  will  ever  be  a  model 
of  every  priestly  virtue  and  an  exemplar  after  which 
to  pattern  their  own  lives.  To  Catholic  readers  in 
general  it  must  be  a  source  of  edification  and  of  good 
to  their  souls. 

The  saintly  Dominican  was,  above  all  things,  a  man 
of  God.  In  an  age  when  the  world  is  fast  drifting 
towards  irreligion,  commercialism  and  the  pursuit  of 
pleasure,  Father  McKenna  was  raised  up  by  God  to 
be  a  gleaner  of  souls,  an  apostle  of  piety  and  an  exem- 
plar of  the  highest  Christian  ideals.  How  faithful  he 
proved  to  the  grace  that  was  given  to  him,  as  well  as 
how  zealously  and  fruitfully  he  fulfilled  the  divine  vo- 
cation that  was  bestowed  upon  him,  will,  we  hope,  be 
revealed  in  the  pages  of  this  volume. 

V.   F.    O'DANIEL,  O.P. 

THE  DOMINICAN  COLLEGE, 

CATHOLIC  UNIVERSITY  OF  AMERICA, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  July  4,  1917. 


CHAPTER    I. 

BIRTHPLACE  AND  LINEAGE. 
(1835) 

MAGHERA,  situated  in  southeastern  Derry,  or  Lon- 
donderry, Ireland,  and  about  eight  miles  west  of  Lough 
(or  Lake)  Beg,  is  the  oldest  and  one  of  the  quaintest 
towns  in  the  county.  In  Ireland's  early  Christian  his- 
tory it  was  a  place  of  considerable  note.  Apart  from 
the  historical  proofs  of  the  fact,  the  town  bears  to  this 
day  silent  but  unmistakable  testimony  of  its  great  an- 
tiquity, its  early  importance  and  its  prominence  as  a 
center  of  intellectual  activity. 

Like  many  of  the  ancient  towns  of  Ireland,  Maghera 
has  in  the  long  course  of  its  existence  borne  different 
names  at  different  periods.  In  early  Christian  times  it 
was  known  as  Macaire  Ratha  Luraigh.  Doubtless  the 
latter  part  of  the  appellation  was  added  in  honor  of 
Saint  Lurach,  the  patron  saint  of  the  parish.1  But  for 
many  centuries  the  interesting  old  place  has  been  called 
by  the  simpler  name  of  Maghera. 

Maghera's  most  noted  ruins  are  those  of  the  church 
of  Saint  Lurach,  which  are  still  in  a  splendid  state  of 
preservation  and  offer  an  interesting  field  of  research 
for  the  antiquary  and  archaeologist.  They  contain 
features  that  are  quite  distinctive  and  differ  much  from 
those  of  any  other  early  ecclesiastical  remains  in  Ire- 

i  The  name  is  also  written  Lurac  or  Lurec,  and  is  often  Anglicized 
Lowry. 

2  1 


2  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

land.  Portions  of  them  bear  evidence  of  great  an- 
tiquity. Another  interesting  historic  relic  of  the  old 
town  is  the  famous  well  of  Saint  Lurach,  which  per- 
petuates the  name  of  the  saint  to  this  day.  Legends 
abound  concerning  the  efficacy  of  its  waters.  It  is  in 
the  heart  of  the  town  and  was  for  centuries  the  prin- 
cipal source  of  the  water  supply  for  its  inhabitants. 

Although  there  are  no  documents  to  show  the  date 
of  its  foundation,  it  is  generally  conceded  that  Maghera 
could  boast  of  an  abbey  of  Canons  Regular  at  a  very 
early  period.  Nor  was  this  all.  Late  in  the  sixth  or 
early  in  the  seventh  century  the  see  of  Ardstrath,  or 
Ardstraw,  was  transferred  from  that  place  to  Maghera, 
and  the  town  was  honored  with  an  episcopal  seat  until 
1158,  when  the  bishopric  was  removed  to  Derry  All 
this  shows  the  importance  of  Maghera  at  the  time  when 
Ireland  first  won  its  name  as  the  "Island  of  Saints 
and  Scholars."  But  with  the  removal  of  its  bishopric 
the  old  town  lost  its  prestige  and  rapidly  declined  in 
population  and  importance. 

More  than  once  during  the  long  period  of  Ireland's 
oppression  by  England  the  inhabitants  of  Maghera 
and  the  surrounding  country  showed  a  commendable 
spirit  of  bravery  and  suffered  greatly  because  of  their 
courage.  During  late  years,  through  the  introduction 
of  modern  methods,  the  town  has  both  improved  ma- 
terially and  grown  in  size.  Today  it  enjoys  the  repu- 
tation of  being  one  of  the  best  market  towns  in  south- 
ern Derry.2 

About  two  Irish  miles  west  of  Maghera  is  the  quaint 

2  This  brief  history  of  Maghera  is  taken  largely  from  conversations  with 
Father  McKenna  himself.  See  also  "  In  Ulster  Towns  and  Villages,"  The 
Belfatt  Weekly  Telegraph,  November  8,  1913. 


BIRTHPLACE  AND  LINEAGE.  3 

hamlet  of  Fallalea,  famed  in  local  legend  or  history 
for  the  memorable  exploit  of  one  Shane  Crossagh 
(cross-eyed  John),  a  noted  Irish  outlaw.  As  the  story 
goes,  Shane,  who  was  known  as  the  greatest  jumper 
in  all  Ireland,  was  surrounded  and  captured  by  his 
English  pursuers  in  the  mountains  near  Fallalea.  As 
a  ruse  to  escape  from  his  captors,  he  asked  to  be  per- 
mitted to  show  them  how  much  ground  he  could  cover 
in  three  leaps.  The  request  was  granted.  The  ath- 
lete took  a  running  start,  and  the  third  leap  carried 
him  beyond  the  cordon  of  soldiers.  Then,  before  they 
could  recover  from  their  surprise,  thanks  to  his  swift- 
ness of  limb  and  the  unevenness  of  the  ground,  Shane 
Crossagh  regained  his  freedom.  To  this  day  three 
piles  of  stone,  one  and  twenty  feet  apart,  mark  the 
distance  of  the  leaps  that  gave  the  outlaw  his  liberty. 

It  was  at  Fallalea  that  the  subject  of  our  narrative, 
the  Very  Rev.  Charles  Hyacinth  McKenna,  O.P.,  first 
saw  the  light  of  day,  May  8,  1835.  He  was  the  eighth 
of  a  family  of  ten  children,  three  of  whom  (one  son 
and  twin  daughters)  died  in  their  infancy.3  His  par- 
ents were  Francis  McKenna  and  Anna  Gillespie,  or 
rather  McDonald;  for,  as  a  future  page  will  show,  his 
mother's  paternal  grandfather,  for  reasons  of  pru- 
dence, had  assumed  the  name  of  Gillespie  and  it  was 
borne  by  his  descendants. 

At  that  period  the  Catholics  of  Ireland,  although  the 
old  faith  was  overwhelmingly  the  religion  of  the  people, 
had  not  long  been  permitted  to  serve  God  in  peace. 
When  religious  liberty  first  began  to  dawn  upon  the  land, 
little  thatched  chapels — for  Catholics  were  not  allowed 
to  honor  their  houses  of  prayer  with  the  title  of  church 

s  Their  names  were  Charles,  Margaret  and  Bridget. 


4  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

— succeeding  the  dripping  cave,  the  hidden  nook  or  the 
mountain  fastness,  rose  here  and  there  in  country 
places  or  small  villages  rather  than  in  the  larger  towns 
and  cities.  This  was  particularly  the  case  in  the  north, 
where  bigotry  was  most  rampant.  In  this  way,  while 
the  surrounding  neighborhood  was  known  as  the  parish 
of  Maghera,  there  was  no  Catholic  church  in  the  town 
itself — nor  is  there  one  today.  When  the  future  Do- 
minican was  born,  Father  John  McKenna,  a  relative 
of  the  family,  was  pastor  of  the  chapels  of  Granahan 
and  Glen,  the  two  churches  in  the  parish  of  Maghera. 
That  of  Glen,  which  stood  about  a  mile  from  Fallalea, 
was  attended  by  the  family  of  Francis  McKenna.  At 
his  birth  the  subject  of  our  biography  was  too  sickly 
to  be  carried  to  the  chapel  to  receive  the  sacrament  of 
baptism.  For  this  reason,  Rev.  Paul  Bradley,  the 
pious  curate  of  the  parish,  baptized  the  child  on  the 
eighth  day,  at  the  McKenna  home,  giving  him  the  name 
of  Charles,  partly  in  memory  of  a  brother  of  the  same 
name  who  had  been  born  a  little  more  than  a  year  be- 
fore and  had  lived  but  a  few  days — partly  in  honor  of 
the  great  cardinal  archbishop  of  Milan,  Saint  Charles 
Borromeo. 

The  McKennas,  when  we  first  find  trace  of  them  in 
history,  belonged  principally  to  three  counties  of  Ire- 
land— Monaghan,  Tyrone  and  Louth.  Those  of  Mon- 
aghan  and  Tyrone  lived  along  the  border  between  the 
two  counties  and  were  chiefs  of  Truagh,  in  Monaghan. 
So,  too,  were  the  McKennas  of  Louth  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal clans  in  that  part  of  the  country.  In  all  three 
counties  they  possessed  wide  areas  of  land  and  were 
among  the  first  families.  That  they  were  a  peace- 
loving  race,  worthy  of  the  motto  on  the  family  es- 


BIRTHPLACE  AND  LINEAGE.  5 

cutcheon:  "Prudence  and  Honor"  (Prudentia  et 
Honor),  seems  certain.  For,  although  they  were  nu- 
merous and  strong,  seldom  does  the  name  of  McKenna 
appear  in  the  annals  of  the  almost  perpetual  wars  to 
which  Ireland  was  long  a  prey.  That  they  were 
staunchly  Catholic  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  rarely,  if 
ever,  does  one  meet  with  or  hear  of  a  McKenna  who  is 
not  of  the  faith  of  Saint  Patrick. 

Tradition  tells  us  that  early  in  the  eighteenth  century 
a  McKenna  went  with  his  five  sons  from  Tyrone  into 
Derry,  settling  near  Maghera.  In  the  course  of  time 
they  came  into  possession  of  tenant  rights  to  broad 
areas  of  land.  Two  of  the  sons  lived  at  Tirkane,  two 
at  Fallagloon,  and  one  at  Fallalea.  Of  a  prolific  race, 
these  five  brothers  left  a  numerous  progeny  in  south- 
eastern Derry.  They  remained  firm  in  their  faith, 
although  surrounded  by  non-Catholics.  In  order  to 
keep  their  religion  untarnished,  the  descendants  of  the 
five  brothers  intermarried  to  such  an  extent  that  a  mar- 
riage with  another  than  a  McKenna,  or  one  of  their 
own  blood,  was  looked  upon  almost  as  one  contracted 
out  of  the  Church. 

The  McKennas  of  Derry  are  noted  for  the  number 
of  exemplary  and  efficient  priests  they  have  given  to 
the  Church  of  Ireland.  Not  many  years  ago,  we  are 
told,  one  room  in  a  house  at  Tirkane  used  to  be  pointed 
out  as  the  birthplace  of  five  clergymen.  Other  coun- 
tries, it  is  said,  have  been  scarcely  less  blessed  by 
priestly  scions  of  this  truly  Catholic  stock.  From  the 
house  of  Fallalea  was  descended  the  saintly  Dominican 
of  the  name,  so  well  known  and  so  deeply  venerated 
in  many  parts  of  the  United  States. 

While  before  her  marriage  the  great  missionary's 


6  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

mother  was  known  as  Anna  Gillespie,  her  family  name, 
as  has  been  said,  was  really  McDonald.  Quite  dif- 
ferent from  that  of  the  McKennas  is  the  record  of  the 
McDonalds  in  the  annals  and  the  history  of  Ireland. 
Of  a  decidedly  martial  spirit,  and  one  of  the  strongest 
and  most  influential  clans  of  Antrim,  they  form  a  con- 
spicuous figure  in  the  history  of  their  home  county  and 
the  province  of  Ulster  for  many  centuries.  At  an 
early  period  many  of  the  race  passed  over  from  Antrim 
into  Scotland,  where  they  became  the  most  numerous 
and  powerful  of  the  clans  in  the  Scottish  Highlands, 
figuring  even  more  conspicuously  in  its  history  than  in 
that  of  Ireland.  Both  in  Ireland  and  in  Scotland, 
with  some  exceptions,  they  long  remained  staunch 
Catholics,  and  retained  the  faith  under  the  most  trying 
persecutions. 

When,  in  July,  1745,  Prince  Charles  Stuart,  known 
in  history  as  "  The  Pretender,"  landed  in  Scotland  to 
assert  his  claim  to  the  thrones  of  that  country  and 
England,  large  numbers  of  the  Highlanders  warmly 
espoused  his  cause.  Conspicuous  among  his  supporters 
were  the  McDonalds  or  MacDonalds.  In  Ireland, 
also,  Charles  found  sympathizers.  Among  these  was 
one  John  McDonald  of  Antrim,  the  paternal  grand- 
father of  Rev.  Charles  McKenna's  mother.  With 
other  adherents  of  the  young  prince,  McDonald  went 
over  to  Scotland  to  aid  him  in  sustaining  his  claims. 
After  the  disastrous  defeat  of  the  Scottish  forces  at 
Culloden,  in  the  April  of  1746,  McDonald  found  his 
way  back  to  Antrim.  But  to  escape  arrest  he  removed 
to  Derry  changing  his  name  to  Gillespie  for  prudence 
sake,  and  there  married  and  settled  near  Maghera  in 
the  neighborhood  of  the  McKennas.  His  descendants 


BIRTHPLACE  AND  LINEAGE.  7 

retained  the  assumed  name.  One  of  his  sons,  John 
Gillespie,  or  McDonald,  was  the  father  of  Francis 
McKenna's  wife.4 

Thus  our  great  Dominican  missionary,  orator  and 
lecturer  belonged  to  two  of  Ireland's  most  prolific 
and  religious  families.  They  were,  furthermore,  if  we 
may  so  express  it,  among  the  country's  most  priestly 
races.  Few  Celtic  names,  indeed,  are  more  frequently 
met  with  than  those  of  McKenna  and  McDonald. 
And  although  no  country  in  the  world,  in  proportion 
to  its  population,  is  more  fruitful  in  vocations  than 
Ireland,  few  if  any  Irish  families  have  given  more  gen- 
erously of  their  sons  to  the  Catholic  priesthood  than 
the  McKennas  and  McDonalds.  The  Catholic  direc- 
tories of  1915,  for  instance,  showed  some  forty  priests 
whose  names  were  McKenna.  Twenty-seven  of  these 
belonged  to  the  Church  of  the  United  States.  The 
clergymen  who  bore  the  patronymic  of  McDonald,  five 
and  thirty  of  whom  served  on  our  missions,  were  still 
more  numerous. 

It  is  no  matter  for  wonder,  therefore,  that  a  scion 
of  two  such  priestly  races  should  be  chosen  and  edu- 
cated even  from  his  tenderest  years  for  the  service  of 
the  altar.  Such,  indeed,  was  the  case  with  little 
Charles  McKenna,  as  far  as  the  limited  means  of  his 
people  permitted. 

*  Father  McKenna  often  told  the  writer  this  bit  of  family  history,  and 
said  that  he  thought  he  was  the  only  member  of  the  family  in  America 
acquainted  with  it. 


CHAPTER    II. 

EARLY  CHILDHOOD  AND  EDUCATION. 
(1835-1848) 

FRANCIS  McKENNA,  the  father  of  little  Charles,  was 
a  man  of  some  note  in  his  part  of  Ireland.  A  pros- 
perous farmer  for  that  day  and  a  devout  Catholic,  he 
belonged  to  that  class  from  which  the  priesthood  of  the 
Emerald  Isle  was  so  largely  recruited.  Open-hearted 
and  generous  almost  to  a  fault,  his  hospitable  home  was 
never  closed  to  the  weary  traveller  or  the  needy 
stranger.  It  was  a  place  of  rendezvous,  where  the 
good  man's  many  friends  frequently  met  to  discuss 
questions  that  were  of  interest  to  their  common  country 
and  religion.  Francis  McKenna  had  been  fortunate 
enough  to  acquire  a  fair  education  for  the  time.  He 
was  possessed  of  good  parts,  and  read  diligently  what 
books  he  could  obtain,  while  the  few  newspapers  of  the 
day  kept  him  abreast  of  the  period.  In  this  way  he 
acquired  a  fund  of  information  which  made  his  conver- 
sation interesting,  and  caused  him  to  be  regarded  as 
an  authority  in  the  circle  in  which  he  moved. 

Oppression  or  religious  antagonism,  it  has  been  said, 
either  causes  one  to  forsake  one's  faith  or  makes  it  grow 
all  the  stronger.  For  this  reason,  perhaps,  we  often 
hear  that  the  Catholics  in  the  north  of  Ireland  are  the 
best  in  a  land  where  the  Catholics  are  among  the 
staunchest  in  the  world.  Possibly  the  model  Catho- 
licity in  the  household  of  Francis  McKenna  may  have 

8 


EARLY  CHILDHOOD  AND  EDUCATION.  9 

been  in  part  due  to  such  an  influence.  Surrounded  on 
all  sides  by  Orangemen  who  were  then,  as  they  are 
today,  bitterly  antagonistic  to  the  faith  he  professed, 
the  good  man  was  constrained  to  ground  himself  thor- 
oughly in  the  teachings  of  the  Catholic  Church  that  he 
might  successfully  defend  the  religion  that  was  dear 
to  his  heart  against  all  attacks.  In  his  preparation 
for  this  spiritual  warfare  he  was  greatly  assisted  by 
Rev.  John  McKenna,  his  parish  priest,  kinsman  and 
friend.  Francis  McKenna's  prowess  in  the  defense  of 
his  religion  made  him  respected,  if  not  loved,  by  those 
who  differed  from  him  in  matters  of  faith. 

As  Anna  Gillespie  (or  McDonald)  was  a  lady  of 
good  mind,  of  deep  religious  convictions,  and  of  a  tem- 
perament akin  to  that  of  her  husband,  their  true  Chris- 
tian characters  and  exemplary  Catholic  lives  combined 
to  make  their  home  a  happy  one.  Both  keenly  realized 
that,  for  those  over  whom  God  had  placed  them,  pre- 
cept without  example  could  hardly  be  an  effective  in- 
centive to  walk  in  the  path  of  virtue.  For  this  reason, 
their  first  care,  next  to  the  fulfillment  of  their  personal 
duties  to  God,  was  to  bring  up  their  large  family  both 
by  word  and  example  to  be  good  practical  Catholics. 

Things  went  happily  and  prosperously  with  the 
McKenna  household  for  a  few  years.  The  first  real 
sorrow  that  came  upon  it  was  the  death  of  the  three 
little  children  of  whom  we  have  spoken.  But  in  1837 
the  model  husband  and  father,  Francis  McKenna,  died 
in  the  full  vigor  of  strong  manhood,  and  his  remains 
were  laid  to  rest  in  the  graveyard  near  the  little  chapel 
of  Glen. 

The  death  of  Francis  McKenna,  like  his  life,  was 
that  of  a  true  Christian.  After  nursing  his  family 


10  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

through  an  attack  of  typhus  fever,  he  himself  was 
stricken  with  the  malady.  Although  a  man  of  giant 
frame  and  robust  constitution,  his  vigils  and  labors 
had  so  sapped  his  strength  that  he  fell  a  victim  to  the 
disease  within  a  few  days.  We  may  well  imagine  the 
anguish  of  the  widow's  heart  when  she  saw  herself  be- 
reft of  her  beloved  companion  and  her  children  de- 
prived of  their  father  just  when  they  most  needed  his 
guiding  hand  and  provident  care.  As  the  prospects 
of  the  young  family  were  bright,  the  blow  was  all  the 
more  severe  because  unexpected.  Yet,  like  a  second 
Esther,  Mrs.  McKenna  found  courage  in  the  thought 
that  God's  aid  is  ever  with  those  who  love  and  trust  in 
Him.1  Like  another  mother  of  the  Maccabees,  the 
good  woman  determined  to  bring  up  her  seven  chil- 
dren for  God,  to  whom  she  was  ready  to  give  them 
all.2  The  belief  that  God  chastises  those  He  loves 
tempered  her  grief  with  consolation. 

The  friends  of  the  husband  proved  friends  in  need 
to  the  desolate  widow,  giving  her  every  care  and  as- 
sistance. But  in  the  work  of  bringing  up  and  educat- 
ing her  young  family,  the  eldest  of  whom  was  but  ten 
or  eleven  years  of  age  at  the  death  of  her  husband, 
none  proved  so  truly  helpful  as  her  zealous  kinsman, 
Rev.  John  McKenna.  He  was  her  adviser  in  all 
things,  particularly  in  those  that  regarded  the  welfare, 
spiritual  and  temporal,  of  her  children.  With  Father 
McKenna,  as  with  the  family,  little  Charles,  the 
youngest  of  the  seven,  appears  to  have  been  the 
favorite. 

Charles  McKenna  was  but  two  years  of  age  at  the 

1  Either,  chapters  XIV  and  XV. 

2  Second  Maccabeet,  chapter  VII. 


EARLY  CHILDHOOD  AND  EDUCATION.  11 

time  of  his  father's  death.  While  by  no  means  opu- 
lent, his  mother  had  been  left  in  easy  circumstances, 
and,  like  the  brave  woman  of  Scripture  (Proverbs, 
chapter  31 ) ,  she  set  herself  to  the  task  of  caring  for  her 
fatherless  children.  Her  first  aim,  of  course,  was  to 
bring  them  up  good  Catholics.  Like  most  Irish 
mothers,  she  cherished  the  hope  of  seeing  at  least  one 
of  her  sons  give  himself  to  the  Church.  Her  choice 
in  this  matter  was  little  Charles,  whose  disposition  won 
him  the  friendship  of  all,  and  whose  early  piety  fore- 
shadowed his  high  vocation.  One  of  the  boy's  greatest 
delights  was  to  go  to  church;  another  was  to  study  his 
catechism.  It  was  the  custom  of  the  family,  as  in 
many  homes  of  Catholic  Ireland,  to  recite  the  Rosary 
every  evening.  This  was  Charles'  favorite  prayer. 
He  called  it  the  "joint  prayer"  because  the  whole 
household  was  always  assembled  for  its  recitation. 
Naturally,  the  Christian  instinct  of  the  good  Irish 
mother  caused  her  to  take  notice  of  these  signs  of 
piety  in  her  youngest  child.  She  felt  that  they  were 
indications  of  a  call  to  the  priesthood  which  she  should 
foster.  Accordingly,  little  Charles  McKenna  was  the 
object  of  his  pious  mother's  special  care  and  solicitude. 
Such  was  the  Catholic  atmosphere  of  the  McKenna 
household;  such  the  maternal  care  with  which  the 
future  priest's  budding  vocation  was  nurtured.  Of 
both  the  great  missionary  and  preacher  retained 
fondest  remembrances  until  the  end  of  his  long  life. 
Very  probably,  indeed,  had  the  forces  that  shaped  his 
early  life  been  less  strongly  spiritual,  he  would  never 
have  had  the  courage  necessary  to  overcome  the  ob- 
stacles that  later  seemed  hopelessly  to  close  to  him  the 
door  of  the  priesthood. 


12  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

One  of  Charles'  earliest  recollections  shows  him  to 
have  been  endowed  even  then  with  an  extraordinary 
memory — a  faculty  that  stood  him  in  good  stead 
through  all  his  long  and  useful  life.  The  night  of  the 
"Little  Christmas,"  or  the  fifth  of  January,  1839,  is 
historic  wherever  the  Irish  have  found  a  footing  since 
that  date;  and  this  is  nearly  everywhere.  It  was  the 
"Night  of  the  Big  Wind"  which  caused  such  great 
loss  of  life  and  property  through  nearly  all  the  Em- 
erald Isle,  and  made  the  people  believe  the  end  of  the 
world  had  come.  As  every  one  at  all  acquainted  with 
modern  Irish  history  knows,  the  "Night  of  the  Big 
Wind"  long  served  as  a  sort  of  chronological  index  in 
domestic  traditions.  In  the  boyhood  days  of  Charles 
McKenna,  and  for  long  years  afterwards,  the  people 
of  Ireland  reckoned  the  dates  of  births  and  events 
from  the  "Big  Wind,"  as  the  ancient  Greeks  used  to 
reckon  history  from  the  Olympic  games,  or  the  Romans 
from  the  foundation  of  their  city.  Although  Charles 
McKenna  was  not  quite  four  years  of  age  when  this 
extraordinary  phenomenon  occurred,  he  retained  a 
vivid  recollection  of  it  until  the  day  of  his  death.  He 
used  to  say  that  he  could  never  forget  the  awful  roar 
of  the  wind,  the  great  fear  that  it  caused  him,  the 
alarm  in  the  faces  of  his  mother  and  the  family,  or  the 
sight  of  the  fallen  trees  that  lay  strewn  about  the  yard 
the  next  morning. 

No  race  of  people  is  blessed  with  a  readier  or  more 
retentive  memory  than  the  Irish.  No  nation  is  fonder 
of  its  folk-lore,  its  music  and  poetry,  its  heroes,  the 
glories  of  its  great  past,  and  above  all  of  its  religion. 
All  these  are  subjects  which  in  the  dark  days  of  perse- 
cution were  recounted  and  discussed  with  love  and  en- 


EARLY  CHILDHOOD  AND  EDUCATION.  13 

thusiasm  at  every  Irish  fireside  during  the  long  winter 
evenings.  The  hospitable  home  of  the  McKennas  was 
no  exception  to  this  custom.  A  subject  on  which 
Father  Charles  H.  McKenna  ever  loved  to  dwell  was 
how,  in  his  childhood  days,  he  was  wont  to  sit  at  the 
side  of  his  beloved  mother  before  the  blazing  peat  fire 
and  listen  while  their  visitors  discoursed  on  Ireland's 
glorious  past,  her  saints,  the  missionaries  whom  she  had 
sent  to  foreign  lands,  her  great  men  and  orators.  The 
older  people  of  that  generation  had  known  Burke, 
Emmet,  Flood,  Grattan  and  Tone.  The  deeds  or 
speeches  of  these  and  others  were  still  fresh  in  the 
memory  of  Ireland,  and  were  often  the  subject  of 
keen  discussion  in  the  warm  glow  of  the  McKenna 
hearth.  The  name  of  O'Connell,  Ireland's  living  hero, 
was  on  every  tongue.  Of  all  the  visitors  to  the  family 
the  most  welcome  to  little  Charles  was  Father  John 
McKenna,  whose  every  word  he  listened  to  with  rapt 
attention.  Besides  being  a  priest,  and  as  such  deeply 
reverenced  by  his  youthful  kinsman,  Father  McKenna 
was  the  best  informed  and  the  wittiest  of  the  many 
guests.3  But,  while  interested  in  all  the  topics  re- 
hearsed, those  that  especially  appealed  to  the  future 
Dominican  were  his  country's  orators  and  missionaries. 
In  this  way  was  his  receptive  mind  inflamed  with  the 
desire  to  become  a  great  pulpit  orator  or  a  missionary 
in  some  foreign  land. 

It  was  in  such  an  atmosphere  of  history,  heroism 
and  religion  that  the  young  soul  of  Charles  McKenna 
received  its  earliest  intellectual  impressions.  As  a 

a  In  the  death  of  Rev.  John  McKenna,  which  occurred  when  Charles  was 
nine  or  ten  years  of  age,  the  subject  of  our  narrative  lost  a  true  friend 
from  whom  he  might  have  expected  much  aid  in  the  attainment  of  his 
heart's  keenest  desire. 


14  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

priest  he  used  to  say  that  the  knowledge  he  then  ob- 
tained at  his  mother's  fireside  was  a  source  of  much 
strength  and  courage  for  him,  when  in  later  years  mis- 
fortune crossed  his  path,  long  preventing  the  attainment 
of  the  object  uppermost  in  his  mind.  Until  the  close 
of  his  life  he  loved  to  recite  snatches  of  Celtic  poetry 
and  fragments  from  speeches  of  great  Irish  orators 
that  he  had  thus  learned  in  his  early  youth. 

Though  the  blight  of  misrule  still  darkened  Ireland 
with  the  pall  of  much  illiteracy,  the  parents  of  Charles 
McKenna  had  been  fortunate  enough  to  receive  a  fair 
education.  From  his  mother  the  docile  boy  received 
his  first  lessons  in  worldly  wisdom,  as  in  Christian 
doctrine.  But  we  soon  find  the  youth  accompanying 
his  brothers  and  sisters  to  the  little  national  school 
near  the  Glen  chapel,  where  his  first  preceptor  was  one 
Master  O'Loan. 

Our  young  schoolboy,  while  not  robust,  was  large 
of  ouild  and  tall  beyond  his  years,  an  indication  of  the 
splendid  type  of  physical  manhood  that  he  was  to  be- 
come in  his  mature  years.  His  head  was  unusually 
large,  his  brow  high  and  broad — signs  of  mental  su- 
periority.4 Fond  of  stories,  quick  at  repartee,  ready 
of  wit,  and  fairly  keen  for  the  national  sports — as 
those  of  his  race  usually  are — he  was  withal  of  a  quiet, 
retiring  and  meditative  disposition.  He  seems  to  have 
been  somewhat  slow  in  his  mental  development,  as 
often  happens  with  those  who  have  grown  rapidly;  for 
in  those  early  student  days  there  was  nothing,  as  far 
as  the  author  has  been  able  to  ascertain,  to  show  that 
Charles  McKenna  was  possessed  of  talents  much  above 

*  Because  of  the  size  of  his  head,  Father  McKenna  was  obliged  to  have 
his  hats  made  to  order. 


EARLY  CHILDHOOD  AND  EDUCATION.  15 

the  ordinary,  or  to  suggest  those  latent  oratorical 
powers  that  were  one  day  to  hold  vast  audiences  spell- 
bound. 

Apart  from  his  great  purity  of  life,  earnestness  and 
exemplary  conduct,  young  McKenna's  greatest  claim 
to  merit  in  those  early  days  lay  in  his  religious  tem- 
perament and  an  extraordinary  love  for  reading  which 
he  retained  all  the  days  of  his  long  life.  But  the  books 
of  which  he  was  particularly  fond  were  those  of  a  de- 
votional or  religious  character,  especially  the  lives  of 
the  saints  and  noted  ecclesiastics.  Of  such  books  there 
were  a  number  in  his  mother's  house,  for  his  parents 
were  given  to  similar  reading.  Among  them  were 
several  volumes  of  Rev.  Alban  Butler's  Lives  of  the 
Scdnts,  all  of  which  he  had  read  and  re-read  before  at- 
taining his  eleventh  year. 

The  pious  youth  had  associated  with  him  in  his  spirit- 
ual reading  a  few  boys  of  the  neighborhood  of  his  own 
age  and  inclinations.  The  lives  of  the  hermits  of  the 
desert  appealed  to  their  devotion,  inspiring  them  with 
a  desire  to  imitate  them.  Indeed,  in  their  boyish 
fancy  they  went  so  far  as  to  plan  a  hermitage  in  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland,  where,  free  from  the  distrac- 
tions of  the  world,  they  could  spend  their  lives  in  soli- 
tude, prayer  and  communion  with  God.  Another  plan 
conceived  by  these  pious  youths  was  to  form  a  society 
for  the  promotion  of  more  frequent  attendance  at  mass, 
for  the  care  of  churches,  and  for  the  enhancement  of 
religious  worship. 

This  incessant  reading  of  pious  books  and  the  lives 
of  the  saints  or  noted  ecclesiastics,  which  he  began  in 
early  youth  and  continued  until  the  end  of  his  life, 
made  Father  McKenna  one  of  the  best  informed 


16  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

hagiologists  the  writer  has  ever  known.  To  it  also 
was  largely  due  the  wide  accurate  knowledge  of  church 
history  that  he  possessed. 

The  Bible,  particularly  the  New  Testament  which 
he  read  over  and  over,  was  another  of  little  Charles' 
favorite  books.  It  was  from  his  good  Christian  mother 
that  he  learned  to  love  the  Scriptures.  Like  her  hus- 
band, Mrs.  McKenna  was  well  grounded  in  the  letter, 
at  least,  of  the  New  Law.  To  prepare  her  children 
to  meet  the  arguments  of  their  non-Catholic  neighbors 
— a  very  necessary  thing  in  the  north  of  Ireland — that 
pious  lady  was  not  content  merely  to  instruct  them  in 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  but  taught  them  and  made 
them  study  the  Inspired  Word.  Much  of  it  they  had 
to  commit  to  memory.  No  Sunday  was  allowed  to 
pass  without  at  least  an  hour  devoted  to  public  reading 
of  the  Sacred  Text.  At  this  holy  exercise  every  mem- 
ber of  the  household  was  obliged  to  be  present.  The 
youngest  boy,  it  was  soon  noticed,  had  an  extraordi- 
nary devotion  to  the  Word  of  God  that  caused  him  to 
make  rapid  progress  in  its  knowledge.  This  familiar 
acquaintance  with  the  letter  of  the  Scriptures  served 
Charles  McKenna  well  when,  as  a  Dominican  novice, 
he  began  the  study  of  theology.  It  was  invaluable  to 
him  when,  as  a  priest,  he  entered  on  those  arduous 
labors  of  a  missioner  and  preacher  through  which  he  is 
principally  known  to  the  world. 

From  his  earliest  youth  there  had  been  instilled 
into  the  mind  of  the  boy  the  idea  that  he  was  to  become 
a  priest.  That  he  was  to  be  one  he  took  for  granted; 
but  he  had  not  given  even  a  thought  as  to  whether  he 
would  enter  the  ranks  of  the  diocesan  clergy  or  become 
a  member  of  some  religious  order.  Perhaps,  indeed, 


EARLY  CHILDHOOD  AND  EDUCATION.  17 

he  did  not  know  at  this  early  period  of  his  life  that 
there  was  such  a  distinction  of  clergymen.  As  there 
were  no  Dominicans  in  his  part  of  Ireland,  he  had 
probably  never  seen  a  member  of  the  Order;  certainly 
never  one  dressed  in  its  distinctive  garb.5  But  one 
day,  when  he  was  not  more  than  eleven  years  of  age, 
as  he  was  poring  over  the  pages  of  an  illustrated  work 
of  the  character  that  appealed  so  forcibly  to  his  piety, 
little  Charles  chanced  upon  a  woodcut  of  Saint  Thomas 
Aquinas.  It  was  the  well-known  picture  of  the  An- 
gelic Doctor  which  represents  him  on  his  knees  before 
the  crucifix,  rapt  in  prayer,  with  rays  of  light  en- 
circling his  brow.  The  image  in  white  and  black  ap- 
pealed to  the  youth's  pious  fancy,  and  he  ran  to  show 
it  to  his  mother.  The  earnest  little  fellow  then  read 
the  sketch  of  the  great  Dominican's  life  that  he  found 
in  the  book.  Then  and  there  Charles  McKenna,  young 
as  he  was,  resolved  that  some  day  he  too  would  be  a 
member  of  the  Order  established  by  the  holy  man  of 
Caleruega,  and  wear  the  religious  habit  worn  by  the 
Angelic  Doctor.  Whether  this  was  an  inspiration 
from  heaven,  or  whether  subsequent  events  but  show 
the  boy's  marvelous  tenacity  of  purpose,  we  cannot 
say;  but  we  have  it  on  the  undoubted  word  of  the 
great  missionary  himself  that,  in  spite  of  the  many  and 
extraordinary  difficulties  that  he  had  to  surmount,  he 
never  faltered  in  this  resolution  until  the  attainment 
of  its  object  some  fifteen  years  later. 

Because  of  her  prudence  and  skill  in  the  manage- 

6  During  the  penal  days  for  the  fathers  to  wear  the  habit  of  their  Order 
in  Ireland  was  to  court  death.  And  because  of  the  rampant  prejudice  of 
the  Orangemen,  the  Dominicans  continued,  whenever  they  went  into  the 
north  of  the  island,  to  wear  the  black  cassock  of  the  secular  priests  until 
after  Charles  McKenna  came  to  America. 

3 


18  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

ment  of  her  domestic  affairs  after  the  death  of  her  hus- 
band, brave  Widow  McKenna  was  known  among  her 
neighbors  as  a  "woman  with  a  man's  head."  With 
the  aid  of  servants  and  her  children  she  tilled  the  little 
farm  at  Fallalea,  and  spun  and  wove  flax.  That  part 
of  the  produce  of  the  land  or  the  work  of  her  deft 
fingers  which  was  not  necessary  for  household  use,  she 
sent  to  the  markets  of  Maghera  or  Coleraine.  Under 
her  wise  care  matters  went  along  prosperously  enough 
for  some  years.  Through  economy  the  tender  mother 
hoped  to  give  all  her  children  an  education  suitable  to 
their  state  in  life;  but  upon  Charles,  for  the  reason 
given,  she  intended  to  bestow  all  the  advantages  re- 
quired to  fit  him  for  the  sublime  calling  that  she  prayed 
might  be  his.  When  he  had  completed  his  primary 
course  at  Glen,  he  was  sent  to  the  higher  national 
school  at  Tirkane,  about  one  and  one-half  miles  on  the 
ether  side  of  the  McKenna  home.  At  Tirkane  his 
first  preceptor  was  one  Isaac  Bradley.  The  walk  to 
and  from  school  in  the  mornings  and  evenings,  he  used 
to  say,  caused  him  but  one  inconvenience,  that  of  giv- 
ing him  a  big  appetite. 

Days  of  hardship  and  privation  were  now  to  come 
upon  the  McKenna  household — days  destined  to  run 
into  years  and  to  try  the  very  soul  of  Charles.  Year 
after  year  the  crops  failed  on  the  little  farm  at  Falla- 
lea. Particularly  trying  was  the  great  famine  that 
followed  the  almost  total  failure  of  the  potato  crops  of 
1846  and  1847.  Because  of  the  pall  of  misery  and 
despair  that  hung  over  the  land  in  consequence  of  the 
hard  times,  business  came  to  a  standstill,  and  the  flax 
industry,  on  which  the  family  principally  depended, 
ceased  to  be  profitable.  Through  this  series  of  mis- 


EARLY  CHILDHOOD  AND  EDUCATION.  19 

fortunes,  not  only  did  the  small  competency  that  had 
been  accumulated  and  that  was  to  be  used,  at  least  in 
part,  for  the  education  of  Charles,  gradually  disappear, 
but  the  McKennas  were  brought  to  the  verge  of  dis- 
tress. 

Charles  Gillespie,  a  brother  of  Mrs.  McKenna,  had 
already  come  to  the  United  States,  settling  in  Lan- 
caster, Pennsylvania,  where  he  engaged  in  business. 
Because  of  the  gloomy  outlook  in  his  native  land,  Gil- 
lespie urged  his  sister  to  dispose  of  her  holdings  in  Ire- 
land and  to  bring  her  young  family  to  Lancaster. 
Like  many  of  the  Irish  of  that  day,  the  good  woman 
under  the  stress  of  the  hard  times  had  herself  begun  to 
look  to  some  foreign  land  for  relief.  Accordingly,  she 
determined  to  join  her  brother  in  Pennsylvania.  But 
as  a  measure  of  prudence  she  insisted  that  John,  her 
eldest  son,  should  remain  at  home  to  occupy  the  farm 
until  the  outcome  of  the  American  enterprise  should  be 
tested.  If  it  proved  a  success,  she  said,  then  they 
could  sell  their  tenant  rights  and  all  could  come  to 
America.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  resulted  in  failure, 
they  would  still  have  a  fireside  to  return  to  in  Ireland. 
To  this  arrangement,  however,  John  McKenna  de- 
clined to  agree  unless  Charles,  his  youngest  brother, 
were  left  with  him  at  the  old  homestead  of  Fallalea. 
While  this  separation  was  trying  in  the  last  degree  to 
her  maternal  heart,  the  fond  mother  reluctantly  con- 
sented to  the  sacrifice.  But  her  sorrow  was  not  with- 
out its  ray  of  consolation;  for  she  knew  that  the  future 
missionary  would  be  able  to  continue  at  Tirkane  the 
schooling  of  which  she  feared  he  might  be  deprived  in 
America.  This  stipulation,  in  fact,  she  made  with  her 
eldest  son  before  leaving  her  home  in  the  Old  World 
to  seek  another  in  the  New. 


20  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

It  was  in  August,  1848,  when  all  Ireland  was  still 
in  the  throes  of  the  great  famine  that  followed  the 
fatal  potato  blights  of  the  two  preceding  years,  that 
good  Mrs.  McKenna,  with  two  of  her  sons  (Alexander 
and  Neil)  and  her  three  daughters  (Catherine,  Mary 
and  Matilda) ,  sailed  from  Londonderry  for  the  United 
States.  The  pain  of  parting  from  John  and  Charles 
may  be  imagined.  As  the  grand  old  priest  used  to 
express  it:  "It  had  all  the  sorrow  and  anguish  ex- 
perienced at  the  breaking  up  of  a  beloved  home  added 
to  that  of  a  first  separation  in  a  united  and  affection- 
ate family." 


CHAPTER    III. 
LAST  YEARS  IN  IRELAND  AND  FIRST  IN  AMERICA. 

(1848-1859) 

IN  those  days  of  the  sailing  immigrant  vessel  a 
voyage  across  the  Atlantic  was  far  different  from  that 
of  today.  The  accommodations  furnished  to  steerage 
passengers  on  our  modern  floating  palaces  are  luxuri- 
ous by  comparison  with  the  best  afforded  at  the  period 
of  which  we  speak.  The  immigrants  in  the  middle  of 
the  last  century  had  not  only  to  bring  their  own  food 
supplies  and  cooking  utensils  with  them,  but  were 
obliged  to  prepare  their  meals  on  a  common  stove  be- 
longing to  the  vessel.  When,  as  oftentimes  happened, 
the  tossing  and  rolling  of  the  ship  made  such  domestic 
labors  impossible,  they  had  to  be  content  with  the 
poorest  and  most  unpalatable  fare.  The  voyage  of 
Mrs.  McKenna  is  said  to  have  been  uncommonly 
rough.  Most  of  the  passengers  were  sick  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  time.  Thus  we  can  fancy  the  trials 
of  the  good  mother  and  her  five  children  on  their 
stormy  passage  across  the  Atlantic  nearly  three-score 
and  ten  years  ago. 

After  a  journey  of  seven  weeks  our  travellers  ar- 
rived in  Philadelphia,  and  without  delay  hurried  on  to 
the  home  of  Charles  Gillespie  at  Lancaster.  As  the 
younger  members  of  the  family  soon  procured  em- 
ployment, it  was  not  long  before  the  McKennas  had 
an  humble  but  comfortable  home  in  America,  over 

21 


22  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

which  the  Christian  mother  presided  with  the  same 
scrupulous  religious  care  that  had  characterized  her 
ministrations  in  the  old  home  in  Fallalea. 

Back  in  Ireland  John  and  Charles  McKenna  lived 
a  lonely  life  on  the  old  homestead.  The  elder  brother 
labored  on  the  little  farm,  spinning  and  weaving  flax 
during  the  long  winter  evenings  or  at  odd  times  when 
labor  in  the  fields  was  slack.  The  younger,  in  fulfill- 
ment of  the  mother's  wish,  attended  the  national  school 
at  Tirkane,  but  gave  his  brother  a  helping  hand  dur- 
ing the  summer  vacations.  Occasionally,  indeed,  in 
the  busy  seasons  the  boy  was  obliged  to  remain 
away  from  school  for  days  at  a  time.  In  this  way, 
although  he  sought  to  repair  such  setbacks  by  extra  ap- 
plication and  private  reading,  his  progress  in  his  studies 
was  somewhat  retarded.  One  thing,  however,  neither 
of  the  brothers  ever  neglected — fidelity  to  their  re- 
ligious duties.  By  their  neighbors  they  were  regarded 
as  the  model  Catholic  young  men  of  the  parish  of 
Maghera. 

While  he  loved  John,  whose  good  qualities  he  had 
learned  to  admire,  the  separation  from  his  mother  and 
the  rest  of  the  family  was  a  heavy  cross  for  Charles 
McKenna.  Besides,  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  classical 
education  in  Ireland  became  daily  more  and  more  re- 
mote. In  his  youthful  enthusiasm  he  believed  this 
would  be  more  easily  acquired  in  America.  For  this 
reason,  he  repeatedly  importuned  his  brother  to  con- 
sent to  his  emigrating  to  the  United  States,  and  often 
wrote  his  mother  for  permission  to  join  her.  Three 
years  passed,  however,  before  the  future  missioner's 
desire  was  granted.  At  length  he  sailed  from  London- 
derry on  the  boat  "  Superior,"  arriving  in  Philadelphia 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  AMERICA.  23 

in  the  August  of  1851.  His  voyage,  like  that  of  his 
mother,  was  stormy  and  lasted  seven  weeks.  In  the 
City  of  Brotherly  Love,  which  at  a  later  day  was  to  be 
the  scene  of  some  of  his  greatest  missionary  triumphs, 
the  young  immigrant,  before  continuing  his  journey, 
tarried  for  a  few  days  to  visit  relations.  At  Lancaster, 
no  doubt,  though  for  reasons  quite  different,  the  meet- 
ing of  mother  and  son  was  not  less  touching  than  had 
been  their  separation  at  Fallalea  just  three  years 
before. 

The  future  Friar  Preacher  was  sixteen  years  of  age 
when  he  arrived  in  the  young  American  republic.  The 
picture  of  Saint  Thomas  of  Aquin  still  haunted  his 
memory;  the  desire  one  day  to  wear  the  saint's  white 
frock  and  black  mantle  and  to  become  a  member  of 
the  Order  to  which  the  Angelic  Doctor  belonged  still 
held  sway  in  his  heart.  In  this  the  mother  was  of  one 
mind  with  the  son.  But,  although  he  had  made  consid- 
erable progress  in  his  studies,  Charles  McKenna  did 
not  deem  himself  prepared  to  seek  admission  into  the 
novitiate. 

As  the  family  was  still  poor  and  unable  to  pay  his 
way  through  college,  Charles  was  now  sent  to  the  pub- 
lic school  at  Lancaster.  There  the  innocent  Irish 
youth  was  the  victim  of  many  practical  jokes  played 
on  him  by  his  mischievous  American  companions.  But 
his  Celtic  wit  soon  made  him  a  match  for  the  cleverest 
of  them,  while  his  good  nature  disarmed  all  opposition. 
A  source  of  much  merriment  to  his  schoolfellows,  as 
well  as  of  embarrassment  to  himself,  was  his  pro- , 
nounced  Irish  brogue.  To  overcome  this,  as  he  felt 
he  must,  was  no  easy  matter.  Yet  how  completely  he 
succeeded  in  this  self-imposed  task  through  patient, 


24  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

persistent  effort,  those  of  our  readers  who  have  held 
converse  with  the  great  priest  or  listened  to  his  elo- 
quent sermons  or  lectures  well  know. 

At  the  earnest  solicitation  of  the  father  of  the  Amer- 
ican hierarchy,  the  Most  Rev.  John  Carroll,  the  Domin- 
icans in  the  United  States — of  whose  province  the  young 
Irishman  now  eagerly  desired  to  become  a  member — 
had  settled  west  of  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  making 
their  first  foundation  and  laying  the  corner-stone  of 
their  first  province  in  central  Kentucky.  This  was  in 
1806.  From  Kentucky  the  activities  of  the  fathers 
had  gradually  spread  through  Ohio,  Tennessee,  Wis- 
consin, and  into  distant  California.  But  it  was  not 
until  early  1853,  nearly  a  year  and  a  half  after  the 
subject  of  our  biography  had  settled  in  Pennsylvania, 
that  they  obtained  a  permanent  footing  in  the  east. 
This  was  in  the  National  Capital.  But  of  this  new 
foundation  the  eager  candidate  knew  not.  Nor  did 
he  know  that  the  fathers  had  a  college  attached  to  Saint 
Joseph's  Priory  near  Somerset,  Ohio,  where,  because 
of  the  scarcity  of  vocations  at  that  period,  a  young 
man  of  his  promise  and  deeply  religious  character 
would  have  been  gladly  received  and  educated  for  the 
priesthood  without  charge. 

Thus,  convinced  that  he  must  perforce  earn  by  the 
sweat  of  his  own  brow  the  means  necessary  to  pay  the 
expenses  of  a  college  education  before  he  could  hope 
to  realize  the  ambition  of  his  life,  Charles  McKenna 
soon  began  to  seek  employment.  That  of  a  trades- 
man, he  felt,  promised  quicker  returns.  Accordingly, 
we  find  him,  after  the  school  term  of  1853,  taking  up 
the  life  of  a  common  laborer.  At  first  he  worked  in 
the  cotton  mills  of  his  home  town,  but  in  the  course 


SAINT  MARY'S  CHURCH,  LANCASTER,  PA.,  ON  WHICH  CHARLES 
McKENNA  DID  HIS  FIRST  WORK  AS  A  STONECUTTER. 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  AMERICA.  25 

of  a  very  few  months  he  gave  up  this  occupation  to 
learn  the  trade  of  stonecutter  under  his  brother  Alex- 
ander, who  was  in  the  employment  of  the  firm  of 
Konigmacher  and  McCormack. 

For  four  years  Charles  McKenna  worked  assidu- 
ously at  his  trade  in  and  around  Lancaster.  While 
there  he  was  employed  in  dressing  the  stonework 
for  the  city's  courthouse  and  for  old  Saint  Mary's 
Church,  of  which  Rev.  Bernard  Keenan  was  then  pas- 
tor. Just  after  Charles  had  quit  school,  Mrs.  McKenna 
had  gone  to  Father  Keenan  to  consult  him  about  her 
son's  ardent  desire  to  become  a  priest.  But  the  good 
clergyman,  doubtless  deceived  by  the  young  man's  ap- 
pearance, assured  the  anxious  mother  that  her  boy 
would  not  live  "  to  turn  a  gray  hair."  It  must,  therefore, 
have  been  with  some  feelings  of  laudable  pride  and 
triumph  that,  some  twenty  odd  years  later,  the  zealous 
friar  returned  to  the  church  in  which  his  family  had 
worshipped,  and  which  he  had  helped  to  build  with  his 
own  hands,  to  electrify  the  people  with  his  eloquent 
oratory. 

At  times,  when  work  at  his  trade  was  slack,  as  often 
happened,  the  young  artisan  turned  his  deft  hands  to 
any  labor  of  which  he  was  capable.  No  honest  em- 
ployment, however  menial,  was  beneath  his  notice,  so 
anxious  was  he  to  gain  the  means  to  continue  his  edu- 
cation. Thus  we  find  him,  about  1856,  laboring  for  a 
while  as  a  mason  on  the  conduit  then  in  course  of  con- 
struction to  bring  the  water  supply  of  the  city  of 
Washington  from  the  Great  Falls  on  the  Potomac. 

His  earnings,  at  times  meager  enough,  the  indus- 
trious young  man  entrusted  to  his  mother  that  she 
might  save  from  them  for  the  purpose  ever  before  his 


26  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

mind  whatever  was  not  necessary  for  the  support  of 
the  household;  for  desirous  as  he  was  to  begin  his 
studies  for  the  priesthood,  he  insisted  on  contributing 
his  part  towards  the  maintenance  of  the  common  home. 
As  the  family  was  still  poor  and  charged  with  the  care 
of  an  invalid  sister,  he  felt  it  a  matter  of  justice  that 
he  should  bear  his  portion  of  this  burden.  Days,  in- 
deed, were  those  of  trial  and  hardship;  days  in  which 
but  little  sunshine  came  into  his  life.  But  they  were 
trials  of  the  soul  rather  than  of  the  body.  In  the 
McKenna  household,  both  in  Ireland  and  in  America, 
religion  played  a  conspicuous  part.  There  vice,  irre- 
ligion,  swearing,  or  even  coarse  language  dared  not 
intrude.  The  world  unregenerate,  with  its  ways  of  sin 
and  profligacy,  was  unknown  to  Charles  McKenna's 
innocent  mind  until  through  sheer  necessity  and  from 
the  highest  motives  he  entered  its  arena  to  battle  for 
the  means  of  gaining  his  great  end.  But  it  was  now 
to  bare  itself  in  all  its  shocking  vulgarity  before  his 
astonished  eyes  and  to  pierce  his  very  soul  with  sorrow. 
Time  and  again  has  the  writer  heard  the  good  priest 
tell  how  he  was  often  pained  by  the  scandalous  lives, 
the  foul  language,  the  blasphemous  oaths  of  many  of 
the  men  with  whom  he  labored  during  the  years  he 
was  a  stonecutter;  how,  when  pay  day  came,  he  and  his 
brother  Alexander  were  often  the  only  ones  who  re- 
turned sober  to  their  homes. 

Nor  was  this  all.  The  brave  man  had  also  to  con- 
tend with  the  national  bias  and  religious  prejudice 
which  was  then  so  prevalent.  The  wave  of  Know- 
nothingism  that  spread  over  the  country  like  a  confla- 
gration in  the  last  century,  occasioning  many  outrages, 
began  in  1852,  the  year  after  Charles  McKenna's  ar- 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  AMERICA.  27 

rival  in  America,  and  attained  its  height  in  1854,  the 
year  after  he  began  the  life  of  a  day-laborer.  The 
two  principal  objects  of  the  hatred  of  that  un-Amer- 
ican and  un-Christian  party  were  the  Catholic  Church 
and  the  Irish  immigrant.  One  of  the  strongholds  of 
the  party  was  Philadelphia,  some  seventy  miles  from 
Lancaster,  where  our  young  artisan  was  employed. 
Charles  and  Alexander  McKenna  suffered  much 
humiliation  and  many  indignities  from  those  of  their 
fellow  laborers  who  were  imbued  with  the  Know-noth- 
ing spirit. 

During  those  four  trying  years  of  his  life  our  future 
missioner  had  one  purpose  ever  in  view — to  gain  the 
necessary  means  for  an  education  preparatory  to  en- 
.tering  the  Order  of  Saint  Dominic.  To  attain  this 
end  he  was  prepared,  as  the  author  has  often  heard 
him  declare,  "to  go  through  fire  and  water."  It  was, 
in  fact,  largely  from  this  ardent  desire  that  the  pious 
workman  derived  the  patience  and  fortitude  that  sus- 
tained him  in  the  oftentimes  unpleasant  companion- 
ship of  his  fellow  stonecutters  and  in  the  still  more 
severe  ordeal  to  which  he  was  to  be  subjected  by  his 
foreman  in  the  west.  Another  source  of  strength  to 
his  great  soul  in  these  trials  was  his  spirit  of  prayer,  a 
characteristic  of  his  entire  life.  Indeed,  the  habit  of 
prayer  and  staunch  devotion  to  his  ruling  ideal  form 
the  keynote  of  Charles  McKenna's  character  at  this 
crucial  period. 

In  Ireland  the  young  man  had  acquired  a  good 
rudimentary  education  in  the  three  R's,  and  had 
made  some  progress  in  the  Latin  tongue.  To  this  he 
had  added  considerably  during  the  two  years  spent  in 
the  public  school  at  Lancaster.  In  spite  of  his  hard 


28  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

labors  during  the  four  years  of  his  life  as  a  common 
workman  in  the  east,  he  found  much  time  for  study, 
for  reviewing  what  he  had  learned  at  school,  and  for 
reading.  In  addition  to  preparation  for  the  priest- 
hood, he  found  in  books  food  for  his  hungry  mind  and 
companionship  for  his  lonely  hours.  Few  were  the 
nights  suffered  to  pass  without  some  hours  devoted  to 
serious  reading,  while  a  great  part  of  each  Sunday  and 
all  the  intervals  when  there  was  no  work  were  con- 
scientiously given  to  this  means  of  self-advancement. 
Towards  the  end  of  this  period  he  gave  particular  at- 
tention to  Latin.  By  his  tireless  industry  the  future 
priest  not  only  acquired  a  fair  stock  of  solid  and  useful 
information,  but  planted  the  germ  of  a  mental  life  that 
was  destined  to  have  a  large  and  vigorous  growth. 

Charles  McKenna  had  by  this  time  developed  into  a 
man  of  splendid  physique,  and  his  bearing  was  such  as 
to  impress  one  with  the  idea  that,  given  the  chance, 
he  was  destined  to  make  his  mark  in  the  world.  He 
dressed  neatly  and  associated  with  the  honest  middle 
class,  carefully  avoiding,  except  when  at  work,  those 
of  vulgar  instincts.  All  this,  together  with  his  good 
manners  and  air  of  refinement — for  he  was  ever  the 
gentleman — gained  him  many  friends  and  a  social  con- 
sideration that  is  not  ordinarily  accorded  day-laborers. 
His  good  judgment,  honesty,  industry  and  sobriety 
won  him  the  confidence  of  all  with  whom  he  came  into 
contact — so  much  so,  indeed,  that  shortly  before  he 
went  west,  a  prominent  merchant  of  Lancaster  made 
him  a  flattering  offer  to  become  a  partner  in  a  lucra- 
tive business.  This  offer,  however,  the  pious  man  de- 
clined, lest  it  should  interfere  with  his  vocation  and 
with  the  arrangements  he  had  made  for  his  aged 
mother  and  invalid  sister,  when  he  should  leave  them. 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  AMERICA.  29 

Wherever  he  labored,  or  whatever  the  difficulties 
thrown  in  his  way,  the  young  Irishman  never  forgot 
his  religion  or  his  duties  as  a  Christian.  By  those  of 
his  faith  he  was  regarded  not  merely  as  a  model  Catho- 
lic, but  as  truly  a  man  of  God.  Both  in  Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania,  and  in  Dubuque,  Iowa,  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  church  sodalities  and  a  teacher  in  the  Sun- 
day school.  When  at  home,  he  was  never  known  to  be 
absent  from  either  of  these  posts  of  duty. 

In  the  meantime  Mary  McKenna,  the  second  sister, 
had  married  one  John  Cassidy  who  moved  to  the 
Bankston  Settlement,  an  Irish  Catholic  colony  in  Iowa, 
where  the  husband  purchased  a  farm  about  twelve 
miles  west  of  Dubuque.  Through  Cassidy  the  future 
missioner  learned  that  he  could  find  in  the  capital  of 
Iowa  more  constant  employment  at  his  trade  and  ob- 
tain higher  wages  than  he  was  receiving  in  the  east. 
Cassidy  also  offered  the  aged  Mrs.  McKenna  and  the 
invalid  daughter  a  home  with  his  family,  in  case  Alex- 
ander and  Charles  availed  themselves  of  this  oppor- 
tunity. For  this  reason,  the  two  brothers  left  for 
Iowa  in  1857.  Their  mother  and  sister,  whom  they 
took  with  them,  they  placed  in  the  Cassidy  home,  while 
they  went  to  live  in  the  city  of  Dubuque.1 

In  the  growing  west,  while  his  wages  were  higher, 
the  young  artisan's  lot  was  in  some  respects  less  happy 

i  Descendants  of  John  and  Mary  (McKenna)  Cassidy  still  live  in  Iowa 
and  Minnesota,  while  one  of  their  daughters,  Sister  Stephana,  O.S.D.,  is  a 
nun  at  Saint  Catherine's  Academy,  Springfield,  Kentucky.  Matilda,  the 
missionary's  youngest  sister,  regained  her  health  and  married  James  Mc- 
Clure,  of  the  Bankston  Settlement,  but  had  no  children.  Catherine,  the 
eldest  sister,  married  Roger  Dougherty  and  remained  in  Lancaster,  Pennsyl- 
vania, where  two  of  their  children,  Francis  and  Mary,  still  live.  None  of 
the  boys  married.  Neil  McKenna  died  in  Iowa,  while  Alexander  returned 
later  to  Lancaster,  where  he  remained  until  his  death.  John  came  to 
America  when  an  old  man  and  died  in  the  east. 


30  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

than  it  had  been  in  Pennsylvania.  The  foreman  under 
whom  he  labored  was  of  Scottish  Presbyterian  descent 
and  deeply  imbued  with  the  principles  of  Know-noth- 
ingism.  Charles  and  Alexander  McKenna,  conse- 
quently, were  objects  of  his  special  dislike.  Every- 
thing that  went  wrong  he  sought  to  lay  at  their  door; 
no  work  was  misdone  for  which  he  did  not  blame  them ; 
nothing  they  could  do  with  which  he  did  not  find  fault. 
No  manner  of  injustice,  trickery  or  persecution,  in 
fine,  was  left  untried  by  the  unscrupulous  foreman, 
who  suffered  his  fanaticism  to  descend  even  to  ruf- 
fianism, that  he  might  deprive  the  brothers  of  their 
employment.  But  the  fellow  understood  not  the 
mettle  of  the  two  men.  Quiet  and  peaceful  withal, 
they  had  a  will  that  refused  to  cringe  under  the  cruel- 
ties of  their  persecutor.  They  soon  learned,  too,  that 
their  common  employer  appreciated  their  skilled  labor, 
honesty  and  sobriety,  and  that  their  enemy's  mad 
efforts  but  turned  to  his  own  confusion. 

An  incident  of  interest  in  Charles  McKenna' s  re- 
lations with  his  western  foreman  deserves  to  be  re- 
corded as  an  index  to  his  character.  When  the  wily 
bigot  learned  that  Charles  was  saving  his  earnings  to 
educate  himself  for  the  priesthood,  the  man's  wrath 
knew  no  bounds.  He  now  determined  to  discharge  the 
Irish  stonecutter  at  any  cost,  and  to  accomplish  his 
nefarious  purpose  with  some  show  of  justice  before 
their  common  employer,  he  resorted  to  an  infamous 
trick.  Two  stones  were  needed  of  the  same  shape  and 
dimensions.  For  this  work  a  friend  of  the  foreman 
and  Charles  McKenna  were  selected.  To  the  former 
was  given  a  stone  both  smoother  and  smaller;  while 
the  future  missionary  was  shown  a  block  much  larger 
and  rougher,  with  the  remark  that  unless  his  work  was 


FIRST  YEARS  IN  AMERICA.  31 

done  as  skillfully  and  finished  as  quickly  as  that  of  his 
rival,  his  services  would  no  longer  be  required.  The 
task  seemed  an  impossible  one,  but,  like  Michael 
Angelo  with  his  statue  of  Moses,  the  pious  craftsman 
set  to  it  with  determination,  while  his  Aves  and  Paters 
ran  apace  with  the  strokes  of  his  hammer.  His  long, 
muscular  arm  put  such  force  into  his  blows  that  the 
rough  mass  of  stone  rapidly  decreased  in  size  and  as- 
sumed the  desired  shape.  Not  only  to  the  mortifica- 
tion of  the  foreman,  but  to  his  own  great  surprise, 
McKenna's  work  was  done  more  skillfully  than  that 
of  his  competitor,  and  was  completed  in  less  time. 
The  holy  priest  of  after  years  often  referred  to  this 
incident  as  an  illustration  of  the  power  of  prayer,  for 
he  firmly  believed  that  he  had  been  given  special  help 
from  on  high. 

In  the  growing  west  the  industrious  artisan  found 
fairly  constant  and  lucrative  employment.  The  work 
done  by  him  on  several  public  buildings — notably  the 
custom-house  at  Dubuque  and  the  courthouse  at  Saint 
Louis — brought  him  substantial  returns.  Thus,  in 
spite  of  his  trials,  the  good  man's  spirits  were  buoyant 
because  he  foresaw  that  he  would  soon  have  the  means 
to  realize  the  purpose  for  which  he  had  striven  so  long 
and  so  diligently.  He  rejoiced  that  his  struggle  with 
the  world  would  soon  come  to  an  end.  He  continued 
his  habit  of  reading.  That  he  might  advance  himself 
the  more  rapidly,  he  burnt  more  midnight  oil  than  ever 
over  his  studies.2 

2  Among  the  writer's  earliest  recollections  as  a  Dominican  is  the  story  of 
Father  McKenna's  heroic  efforts  to  prepare  himself  for  admission  into  the 
same  Order.  Humble  as  he  was,  the  holy  priest  seemed  to  think  it  some- 
thing of  a  duty  to  tell  the  students  the  part  of  his  life  recorded  in  the 
present  chapter,  that  he  might  thus  urge  them  to  put  their  best  endeavors 
into  their  studies,  and  at  the  same  time  encourage  and  strengthen  them  in 
their  labors. 


32  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

In  after  years  the  zealous  priest  was  often  tempted 
to  regret  the  long  days  he  spent  as  a  common  laborer 
as  a  period  lost  from  his  life.  But  while  this  may  be 
true  in  one  sense,  in  another  it  is  certain  that,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  courage  and  consolation  with  which  it 
may  inspire  many  a  young  man  similarly  situated,  this 
part  of  his  notable  career  was  rich  in  experiences  that 
served  him  well  in  later  years.  Then  it  was  that  he 
learned  from  the  most  tangible  evidence  the  necessity 
of  an  ambassador  of  Christ  laboring  among  men.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  resolved  that,  should  he  ever  attain  to  the 
priesthood,  his  ministrations  should  be  devoted  to  them 
rather  than  to  those  of  the  gentler  and  more  pious  sex. 
How  faithfully  he  kept  this  resolve  and  how  fruitfully 
he  labored  for  the  spiritual  betterment  of  Catholic  men 
through  many  parts  of  the  United  States,  is  a  matter 
of  no  uncertain  history. 

While  in  Dubuque  Charles  McKenna's  desire  to 
become  a  Friar  Preacher  was  strengthened  by  the 
renown  of  Father  Samuel  C.  Mazzuchelli,  O.P.,  whose 
name  was  there  spoken  almost  with  reverence,  and 
whose  missionary  zeal  and  labors  and  achievements  as 
an  architect  and  church  builder  were  then,  as  they  are 
to  this  day,  the  frequent  topic  of  conversation  among 
both  Catholics  and  non-Catholics.  There  also  the  per- 
severant  candidate  for  the  Order  was  nearer  to  a  Do- 
minican convent — Sinsinawa  Mound — than  he  had  ever 
been  in  his  life;  yet  strange  to  say,  he  was  not  to  see 
the  institution  for  nearly  two  years.  This  was  because 
he  now  clearly  foresaw  that  he  would  soon  have  the 
means  to  attend  the  college  attached  to  it,  and  he  did 
not  wish  to  visit  the  place  until  he  was  ready  to  make 
application  for  admittance. 


CHAPTER    IV. 
COLLEGE  DAYS  AND  NOVITIATE. 

(1859-1863) 

THE  Dominican  college  of  Sinsinawa  Mound,  Wis- 
consin, was  founded  in  1846  by  the  saintly  Father 
Samuel  C.  Mazzuchelli,  O.P.  Thirteen  years  of  apos- 
tolic life  among  the  Indians  and  on  the  missions 
through  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  Illinois  and  Iowa  had 
convinced  the  zealous  priest  that  a  second  province  of 
the  Dominican  Order  in  our  American  republic,  with 
its  center  in  the  growing  northwest  country,  would 
hasten  the  development  of  the  Church  in  those  parts. 
Like  Father  Edward  D.  Fenwick  and  the  other  co- 
founders  of  the  first  province  of  Friars  Preacher  in 
the  United  States,  Father  Mazzuchelli  believed  that  a 
Catholic  college  would  be  not  merely  a  blessing  to  the 
Catholic  youth  of  the  northwest,  but  the  most  effectual 
means  of  building  up  and  securing  vocations  for  the 
new  province  which  he  proposed  to  establish  there,  and 
which  he  hoped  to  see  become  a  fruitful  center  of  mis- 
sionary endeavor. 

Accordingly,  in  June,  1843,  with  the  knowledge  and 
consent  of  his  superiors  and  the  ordinary  of  Dubuque, 
then  the  only  bishop  in  the  northwest,  he  sailed  for 
Europe  on  this  mission.  As  Father  Mazzuchelli's 
reputation  as  an  apostolic  priest,  an  exemplary  reli- 
gious and  a  man  of  sound  judgment  had  preceded  him 
to  the  Eternal  City,  the  consent  of  the  Most  Rev. 

4  33 


34  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Angelus  Ancarani,  the  Master  General  of  the  Order 
at  that  time,  and  that  of  the  Propaganda  were  read- 
ily given  to  both  enterprises.  At  first  it  was  intended 
that  the  foundation  should  be  made  at  Galena,  Illinois. 
But  a  change  from  this  place  caused  a  delay.  Thus 
it  was  not  until  two  years  later  that  the  plan  took  defi- 
nite shape  in  the  opening  of  Saint  Dominic's  Church 
and  Monastery  in  southwestern  Wisconsin.  The  col- 
lege followed  in  1846.  The  new  province  was  called 
the  Province  of  Saint  Charles,  after  Father  Mazzu- 
chelli's  patron  saint;  while  the  educational  institution 
was  known  as  Sinsinawa  Mound  College,  from  the 
name  of  the  prominent  hill  at  the  base  of  which  it 
stood. 

Because  of  the  lack  of  vocations  in  the  new  and  un- 
developed country  and  the  impossibility  of  obtaining  a 
sufficient  number  of  members  of  his  Order  from 
abroad,  the  Province  of  Saint  Charles,  at  the  request 
of  its  founder,  was  fused  into  that  of  Saint  Joseph  in 
1849;  and  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  Father  Joseph 
T.  Jarboe  was  appointed  president  of  the  college, 
Father  Mazzuchelli  desiring  to  devote  himself  exclu- 
sively to  the  work  of  the  missions.  Under  Father 
Jarboe's  administration  the  Sinsinawa  Mound  College, 
the  times  considered,  had  gone  along  prosperously  for 
ten  years  when  it  opened  its  doors  to  its  most  illus- 
trious alumnus — Father  Charles  H.  McKenna. 

As  Charles  McKenna,  while  in  Dubuque,  was  an 
active  member  of  the  church  societies  of  the  cathedral 
parish,  he  soon  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  Right 
Rev.  Matthias  Loras,  the  first  bishop  of  the  diocese, 
and  his  coadjutor,  the  Right  Rev.  Clement  T.  Smyth. 
With  Bishop  Smyth,  indeed,  he  lived  on  terms  of  inti- 


COLLEGE  DAYS  AND  NOVITIATE.  35 

mate  friendship,  and  received  much  assistance  from 
him  in  the  study  of  Latin. 

In  May,  1859,  the  Very  Rev.  Joseph  A.  Kelly,  then 
provincial  of  the  Dominicans,  paid  an  official  visit  to 
the  college  at  Sinsinawa  Mound,  about  eight  miles 
from  Dubuque.  While  in  Sinsinawa  he  called,  with 
Father  Jarboe,  to  pay  his  respects  to  Bishop  Smyth. 
The  good  prelate,  mindful  of  his  friend's  interests,  at 
once  sent  word  to  Charles  McKenna  to  call  at  the  epis- 
copal residence  to  meet  the  one  man  whom  he  espe- 
cially desired  to  see — the  provincial  of  the  Dominicans. 
Needless  to  say,  the  earnest  candidate  hastened  to  bare 
his  life  and  aspirations  to  Father  Kelly.  The  applica- 
tion of  one  so  highly  recommended  by  Bishop  Smyth 
was  of  course  favorably  received,  and  the  young  man 
was  referred  to  Father  Jarboe  for  admittance  to  Sin- 
sinawa Mound  College. 

Strange  are  the  ways  of  providence!  For  years 
had  Charles  McKenna  ardently  desired  to  enter  the 
Order  of  Saint  Dominic;  yet  Fathers  Kelly  and  Jarboe 
were  the  first  Dominicans  he  had  ever  met.  Nor  had 
he  yet  seen  the  Dominican  habit,  except  in  the  picture 
of  Saint  Thomas  of  Aquin.  Good,  genial  Father 
Jarboe  invited  him  on  this  occasion  to  pay  a  visit  to 
Sinsinawa  Mound  before  entering  the  college.  While 
on  his  way  to  this  institution,  in  the  early  summer  of 
the  same  year,  the  future  missionary  descried  in  the 
distance  the  Rev.  James  B.  McGovern,  then  a  profes- 
sor in  the  college,  walking  along  the  country  road  and 
dressed  in  the  flowing  white  gown  of  a  Dominican 
friar.  At  first,  the  pious  young  man  was  tempted  to 
believe  that  he  beheld  an  apparition,  or  that  an  angel 
had  been  sent  to  direct  his  steps.  It  was  the  first  time 


36  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

he  had  ever  seen  a  Friar  Preacher  in  the  full  garb  of 
his  Order.  The  vision  brought  to  our  young  candi- 
date's mind  the  picture  of  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas  he 
had  seen  in  Ireland  in  the  early  days  of  his  youth, 
which  had  given  him  so  strong  and  so  persistent  a 
desire  to  become  a  Dominican.  The  illusion,  of  course, 
was  soon  dispelled,  and  the  two  men  then  began  a 
friendship  that  was  to  be  broken  only  by  death. 

Some  of  our  readers  perhaps  may  think  that  Charles 
McKenna  unwisely  tempted  providence  and  trifled 
with  his  vocation  by  bestowing  so  much  time  and  at- 
tention on  his  family,  while  the  best  years  of  his  life 
for  study  were  slipping  away.  But  not  so  was  the 
judgment  of  this  devoted  Catholic  son.  He  had  an 
unbounded  confidence  in  the  providence  of  God  which 
he  firmly  believed  would  reward  his  filial  devotion. 
His  was  a  brave  heart;  and  a  brave  heart's  way  of 
seeking  comfort  in  days  or  years  of  stress  and  trial  is 
to  redouble  prayer  and  effort — to  sow  the  good  seed 
of  virtue,  and  then  patiently  wait,  however  gloomy  the 
outlook,  for  the  fruit  and  grain  until  God's  appointed 
time  of  harvest.  The  Scriptural  commandment: 
"Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother,  as  the  Lord  thy 
God  has  commanded  thee,  that  thou  mayest  live  a  long 
time,  and  it  may  be  well  with  thee  in  the  land  which 
the  Lord  thy  God  will  give  thee,"  was  a  living  pre- 
cept to  Charles  McKenna.1  He  could  not  bring  him- 
self to  leave  a  mother  whose  love  for  him  had  been 
proved  by  so  many  heroic  sacrifices,  until  he  was  as- 
sured that  her  every  temporal  comfort  would  be  pro- 
vided for.  He  felt  that  the  divine  will  was  that  he 
should  provide  for  her  before  entering  the  religious 

i  Deuteronomy  V.,  16. 


CHARLES  McKENNA  AS  STUDENT  AT  SINSINAWA  MOUND  COLLEGE. 


COLLEGE  DAYS  AND  NOVITIATE.  37 

Order  to  which  he  was  so  strongly  impelled.  And  the 
good  man's  after  life  shows  that  he  received  the  bless- 
ings which  God  promises  those  who  honor  their 
parents. 

At  last  Charles  McKenna's  prayers  were  heard,  his 
patience  rewarded,  his  filial  piety  blessed.  The  long 
period  of  anxious  waiting  was  at  an  end.  Thus,  at 
the  fall  opening  of  1859,  we  find  him  enrolled  among 
the  students  of  the  Dominican  college  at  Sinsinawa 
Mound,  Wisconsin.  He  was  then  four  and  twenty 
years  of  age.  Between  the  sturdy  young  man  and 
the  president  of  the  college,  Father  Jarboe,  a  bond  of 
affection  had  been  established  at  their  meeting  in 
Dubuque.  Indeed,  the  learned  and  fatherly  priest's 
sympathetic  friendship  was  now  to  prove  most  useful 
to  our  student  in  many  ways.  Charles'  exemplary 
conduct  and  strong  character  led  to  his  appointment 
as  one  of  the  prefects  for  the  boys  almost  from  the 
beginning  of  his  college  days.  As  his  deft  hands  were 
ever  willing  to  work,  many  small  tasks  were  given  him 
about  the  yard  and  buildings  at  odd  hours,  on  days  of 
recreation  and  during  the  summer  vacations  which  he 
spent  principally  at  the  institution.  For  all  these — 
largely  out  of  consideration  for  his  heroic  battle  to  pro- 
vide for  his  mother  and  to  get  an  education,  and 
because  he  was  to  give  his  life  to  the  Order — so  lib- 
eral an  allowance  was  made  that  his  schooling  cost  him 
practically  nothing.  In  this  way,  when  he  left  the 
Mound,  Charles  McKenna  was  able  to  give  his  mother 
more  than  he  had  ever  expected,  thus  making  doubly 
sure  the  matter  of  her  temporal  comfort. 

Shortly  after  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war, 
however,  Father  Jarboe,  in  response  to  an  appeal  of 


38  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

his  provincial  and  Bishop  Spalding  of  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, for  chaplains  for  the  Confederate  armies,  of- 
fered his  services  for  that  dangerous  post.  The  de- 
parture of  the  kindly  president  from  the  Mound  was 
deeply  felt  by  Charles  McKenna  as  a  personal  loss; 
but  he  soon  found  another  not  less  sympathetic  friend 
in  the  new  president,  the  Rev.  Sydney  A.  Clarkson. 
Scientists  tell  us  that  the  large  brain,  if  of  the  right 
quality  and  given  the  opportunity,  although  it  may  be 
slow  in  its  development,  has  latent  powers  that  will 
tell  in  the  end.  So  it  seems  to  have  been  with  our 
future  great  Dominican  preacher  and  missionary.  But 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  by  much  reading  and 
private  study  he  had  planted  the  germ  of  a  mental 
life  which  was  now  to  have  a  healthy,  vigorous  growth. 
At  college  Charles  McKenna  applied  himself  assidu- 
ously to  his  studies  and  made  rapid  progress.  What 
with  his  previous  preparation,  what  with  his  extraor- 
dinary application  and  what  with  the  extra  care  given 
him  by  the  fathers  because  of  his  mature  years  and 
his  earnest  desire  to  enter  the  Order,  he  led  in  his 
classes.  In  some  branches  he  covered  two  years'  work 
in  one.  Rarely,  indeed,  was  he  without  a  book  in  hand. 
Unless  when  occupied  with  his  little  manual  tasks, 
recreation  meant  no  change  for  him,  except  a  change 
of  study.  The  two  long  summer  vacations  he  spent 
at  Sinsinawa  Mound  were  passed  with  his  treasured 
books,  in  the  mastering  of  which  he  was  assisted  by  the 
fathers.  In  this  way,  at  the  end  of  two  years  and  a 
half  of  college  training,  he  had  acquired  a  good  liberal 
education — particularly  a  first-rate  knowledge  of  the 
Latin  language,  to  which  he  gave  special  attention  be- 
cause so  necessary  in  the  life  of  a  priest. 


COLLEGE  DAYS  AND  NOVITIATE.  39 

But  what  was  of  even  greater  importance  for  the 
future  of  the  ardent  student  than  his  progress  in  his 
studies,  was  that  at  Sinsinawa  his  eager  soul  be- 
came saturated  with  the  apostolic  zeal  of  Father 
Mazzuchelli,  whose  spirit  permeated  the  institution. 
In  after  years,  the  noted  preacher  and  missionary  often 
spoke  of  a  retreat  he  made  at  this  time  under  the  di- 
rection of  that  holy  priest  as  one  of  the  most  fruitful 
of  his  life.  From  Mazzuchelli  he  also  learned  of  the 
heroic  and  self-sacrificing  labors  of  Father  John  T. 
Van  den  Broek,  O.P.,  among  the  Indians  on  the  mis- 
sions of  Wisconsin.  The  knowledge  the  young  can- 
didate to  the  Order  acquired  at  the  Mound  of  the  lives 
of  these  two  great  men  inspired  him  for  a  time  with  the 
desire  to  devote  his  own  life  to  labor  among  the  In- 
dians or  other  barbarous  peoples.2  But  the  informa- 
tion which  Charles  McKenna  acquired  during  his  col- 
lege days  of  the  labors  of  the  Friars  Preacher  in  the 
United  States  was  not  limited  to  the  northwest. 
From  Father  Jarboe,  who  had  almost  grown  up  with 
Saint  Rose's,  in  Kentucky,  he  learned  the  province's 
early  history  and  traditions — the  mortified  and  saintly 
lives  led  by  its  founders,  and  their  struggles  in  the  first 
years  of  its  existence.  All  these  impressions  of  the 
Order  he  was  about  to  join  served  to  strengthen  still 
more  the  future  orator's  desire  to  become  a  Dominican 
and  to  spur  him  on  to  greater  efforts.  Impressions 
they  were  which  he  held  sacred  until  the  day  of  his 
death. 

It  was  in  the  March  of  1862  that  Charles  McKenna 

2  For  the  life  and  labors  of  Father  Mazzuchelli,  see  Golden  Bells  in  Con- 
vent Towers,  Chicago,  1904;  and  Memoirs  of  Father  Mazzuchelli,  Chicago, 
1915.  For  those  of  Father  Van  den  Broek,  see  The  Story  of  Father  Van 
den  Broek,  O.P.,  Chicago,  1907. 


40  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

left  the  college  of  Sinsinawa  Mound  to  visit  his  aged 
mother  before  going  to  the  Dominican  novitiate  of 
Saint  Joseph's,  near  Somerset,  Ohio.  His  stay  with 
her  must  have  been  brief,  for  we  find  him  in  Ohio  on 
tfhe  seventeenth  of  the  same  month.  The  reader  may 
imagine  the  sentiments  of  those  two  deeply  attached 
souls  on  the  occasion  of  their  final  parting.  Senti- 
ments they  must  have  been  in  which  sorrow  and  joy 
struggled  for  the  mastery — the  sorrow  that  is  ever 
caused  by  such  separations,  and  the  joy  that  Chris- 
tian hearts  cannot  but  experience  at  the  call  of  a 
divine  vocation.  At  Saint  Joseph's  our  zealous  postu- 
lant spent  more  than  a  month  in  seclusion,  praying  to 
know  the  will  of  God,  and,  in  case  it  was  that  he  should 
be  a  Friar  Preacher,  for  the  grace  to  live  in  its  per- 
fection the  life  required  by  the  rule  of  the  Order  of 
Saint  Dominic.  This  brief  period  closed  with  a  re- 
treat of  ten  days  preparatory  to  the  reception  of  the 
Dominican  habit. 

Before  receiving  the  habit,  the  young  postulant  was 
subjected  to  a  searching  examination  by  the  prior  and 
the  council  of  the  convent.  In  addition  to  this,  as  is 
required  by  both  papal  law  and  the  Order's  constitu- 
tions, he  had  to  answer  certain  important  questions, 
and  to  give  solemn  assurance  that  he  had  no  duties  or 
obligations  which  obliged  him  to  remain  in  the  world. 
It  was  well,  then,  that  the  young  man  had  made  provi- 
sion for  his  mother;  for  a  son's  first  duty  is  to  his 
parents,  and  the  Order  will  accept  no  one  as  a  postu- 
lant whose  services  are  required  at  home. 

On  April  20,  1862,  Charles  McKenna  entered  the 
conventual  choir,  where  the  community  was  as- 
sembled. At  a  signal  from  the  prior,  the  Very  Rev. 


COLLEGE  DAYS  AND  NOVITIATE.  41 

Michael  D.  Lilly,  he  prostrated  himself  on  the  floor, 
as  prescribed  by  the  constitutions,  his  arms  outstretched 
in  the  form  of  a  cross.  "What  is  it  you  seek?"  (quid 
quaeris?),  asked  the  superior.  "God's  mercy  and 
yours"  (misericordiam  Dei  et  vestram),  replied  the 
humble  candidate.  Then,  at  another  signal,  he  rose 
to  listen  reverently  to  the  admonition  of  the  superior. 
All  this  is  formula  whose  significance  is  consecrated  by 
time  and  usage.  The  prostration  typifies  immolation 
of  one's  self  on  the  altar  of  humility  and  obedience. 
The  intent  of  both  question  and  answer  is  to  signify 
to  the  postulant  that,  if  he  is  to  live  the  life  of  a  re- 
ligious, he  is  no  longer  to  seek  or  to  depend  on  self; 
that  henceforth  he  is  to  have  no  will  of  his  own,  but  is 
to  be  subject  in  all  things  to  that  of  his  superiors.  He 
is  to  do  not  the  work  of  his  own  liking,  but  that  as- 
signed him.  He  is  to  live  and  to  labor  not  where  he 
chooses,  but  where  he  is  sent.  The  provincial  may 
send  him  anywhere  in  his  province;  the  Master  Gen- 
eral to  any  part  of  the  globe.  All  this  Father  Lilly 
explained  to  the  kneeling  postulant,  together  with  the 
obligation  he  was  about  to  assume  of  bearing  patiently 
the  onera  and  austerities  imposed  by  the  rule  of  Saint 
Dominic — a  wise  regulation,  for  the  life  of  a  Friar 
Preacher  is  not  an  easy  one.  In  its  entirety  it  is  a 
life  of  prayer  and  heroic  labor  for  souls.  Of  the 
mercy  of  God  the  applicant  was  assured,  on  condition 
that  he  prove  faithful  to  the  rule  of  the  Order. 

As  on  all  similar  occasions,  the  prior  closed  his  ad- 
dress with  the  question:  "Do  you  wish,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  to  undertake  all  this  in  the  measure  of  your 
strength?"  The  emphatic  reply  was:  "I  do."  The 
superior  then  added  the  prayer:  "May  God  complete 


42  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

that  which  He  has  begun!";  and  the  community  an- 
swered, "Amen." 

While  the  strains  of  "Come,  O  Holy  Ghost!"  (Veni 
Creator}  rose  heavenwards,  Charles  McKenna,  kneel- 
ing before  the  prior,  laid  aside  his  secular  garb  and 
was  clothed  by  the  superior  with  the  flowing  tunic,  the 
long  scapular  and  the  capuche — all  in  white.  Over 
these  was  placed  the  black  mantle  to  complete  the 
Order's  habit.  Then  he  prostrated  himself  a  second 
time  on  the  sanctuary  floor,  as  the  prayers  of  the  lit- 
urgy were  recited  to  invoke  heaven's  blessing  upon  him. 
At  a  given  signal  he  arose,  was  sprinkled  with  holy 
water,  and,  while  the  brethren  sang:  "Holy  God,  we 
praise  Thy  name"  (the  Te  Deum),  received  the  kiss 
of  peace  from  each  member  of  the  community — a 
symbol  of  the  new  brotherhood  into  which  he  had  been 
received.  All  this  is  rubric  consecrated  by  ages  of 
custom. 

In  most  of  the  orders  of  the  Church  it  is  customary 
at  the  clothing  for  the  newly  received  member  to  add 
the  name  of  another  patron  saint  to  that  received  in 
baptism.  By  this  new  name  rlather  than;  by  his  baptismal 
name  is  he  generally  known  in  religion.  The  religious 
name  then  given  Charles  McKenna  was  Hyacinth, 
after  Saint  Hyacinth,  the  great  Dominican  missionary 
and  apostle  of  Poland.  Was  this  prophetic,  one  might 
ask,  of  the  new  novice's  future  labors?  Truly,  his 
after  life  would  justify  such  a  belief. 

With  the  reception  of  the  habit  begins  the  novitiate 
in  every  religious  order,  a  period  of  from  one  to  two 
years'  duration  according  to  the  laws  of  the  respective 
institutes.  In  that  of  Saint  Dominic  it  covers  a 
twelvemonth,  unless  prolonged  by  the  superior.  It  is 


COLLEGE  DAYS  AND  NOVITIATE.  43 

the  beginning  of  the  religious  life  and  a  time  of  trial 
and  formation.  The  new  member  is  placed  under  the 
care  of  the  master  of  novices,  whose  duty  it  is  to  train 
and  form  him  according  to  the  rules,  constitutions  and 
traditions  of  his  Order,  or  even  the  laudable  customs 
of  the  province  to  which  he  belongs.  The  novice's 
home  is  now  the  conventual  cloister,  wherein  his  soul 
lives  in  an  atmosphere  of  piety  and  is  steeped,  day  by 
day,  in  that  spiritual  and  supernatural  life  after  which 
he  must  strive,  and  which  henceforth  must  be  the 
inspiration  of  all  his  actions.  Cut  off  from  distracting 
cares  by  monastic  walls,  the  novice's  constant  effort, 
if  he  desires  to  live  the  ideal  life  of  his  Order,  must  be 
gradually  to  shape  himself  to  that  ideal  by  means  of  the 
regulations  of  his  convent  and  institute.  All  these  are 
so  many  aids  to  perfection  for  the  soul  thus  freed  from 
the  world  and  its  influences.  Among  them  are  the 
rules  of  prayer  and  meditation,  study  and  recollection, 
the  choral  office,  in  which  the  divine  praises  are  chanted 
or  sung  in  common  by  the  community  at  appointed 
times,  private  devotions,  examens,  and  other  spiritual 
exercises — all  under  the  guidance  of  the  master  of 
novices.  As  Saint  Dominic  believed  that  the  health 
of  the  body  is  essential  to  the  health  of  the  soul,  for 
the  former  a  reasonable  amount  of  recreation  and  phys- 
ical exercise  has  been  prescribed.  But  silence,  so  neces- 
sary for  prayer,  study  and- recollection,  is  the  general 
rule.  It  is  medicine  for  the  soul;  a  source  of  strength 
to  the  spiritual  athlete  in  training  for  the  Church's 
combats.  During  the  simple  novitiate,  or  the  time  that 
intervenes  between  the  reception  of  the  habit  and  the 
religious  profession  a  twelvemonth  later,  the  novice  is 
to  be  drilled  rigorously  in  all  these  things,  that  they 


44  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

may  become  habits,  and  that  he  may  learn  whether  or 
not  he  is  called  to  such  a  state  of  life.  He  is  free  to 
return  to  the  world  at  any  time  before  making  his  pro- 
fession. 

While  the  prior  is  the  highest  authority  in  the  con- 
vent, it  is  especially  the  duty  of  the  master  of  novices, 
under  whose  immediate  jurisdiction  and  more  intimate 
influence  they  are  placed,  to  preside  over  the  religious 
formation  of  the  aspirants  to  full  membership  in  the 
Order.  Brother  Hyacinth  McKenna's  master  of  nov- 
ices, with  the  exception  of  the  first  month  or  so  of  his 
novitiate,  was  the  saintly  Father  James  Alphonsus 
Sheridan.  Father  Sheridan  was  a  man  of  high  spirit- 
uality and  much  given  to  mortification.  None  who 
came  under  his  care  failed  to  receive  a  thorough  re- 
ligious training,  even  in  its  minutest  details.  With 
watchful  eye  did  he  direct  their  spiritual  growth,  in- 
culcate the  three  essentials  of  all  religious  life — obedi- 
ence, poverty  and  chastity — enforce  the  rules,  seek  to 
eradicate  tendencies  opposed  to  common  life,  foster  the 
formation  of  good  habits,  implant  the  cardinal  virtue 
of  humility,  and  insist  on  the  observance  of  the  tradi- 
tional practices  of  the  Order.  In  all  this  the  zealous 
priest's  efforts  were  the  more  fruitful  because  he  was 
himself  a  living  example  of  the  religious  life  and  led 
the  way  in  whatever  he  taught.  On  the  one  hand,  he 
wisely  encouraged  those  in.  whom  he  found  signs  of  a 
true  vocation;  on  the  other,  he  carefully  yet  kindly 
weeded  out  those  who  did  not  give  good  promise. 

The  early  training  that  Charles  McKenna  received 
from  his  Christian  mother  and  the  life  he  had  led  in 
the  world,  had  been  an  excellent  preparation  for  the 
life  he  was  to  lead  in  religion — perhaps  the  more  so 


COLLEGE  DAYS  AND  NOVITIATE.  45 

because  it  is  not  the  aim  of  the  Order  of  Saint  Dominic 
to  destroy  individuality  by  shaping  all  its  members 
after  any  one  model;  but  rather  so  to  train  them  that, 
while  through  grace  and  years  of  formation  they  will 
become  exemplary  and  efficient  subjects,  grounded  in 
sound  habits  and  true  to  the  spirit  of  their  Order, 
their  individuality  will  remain  intact,  shorn  merely  of 
its  shortcomings.  Thus,  the  religious  formation  of 
our  novice  was  a  comparatively  easy  matter  both  for 
himself  and  for  his  novice-master.  The  difficulty  often 
experienced  in  surrendering  one's  will  to  that  of  an- 
other, especially  when  one  enters  religion  at  the  ma- 
ture age  of  our  novice,  was  not  met  with  in  the  case 
of  Brother  Hyacinth  McKenna.  From  the  beginning 
he  was  a  model  religious,  exact  in  the  observance  of  the 
rule  of  his  Order,  submissive  to  his  superiors,  punctual 
in  obedience,  deeply  devout,  keenly  anxious  to  advance 
in  perfection. 

Saint  Joseph's  Convent,  situated  in  the  hills  of 
Perry  County,  Ohio,  about  two  and  a  quarter  miles 
from  Somerset,  was  made  a  novitiate  for  the  Friars 
Preacher  in  the  United  States  in  the  forties  of  the  last 
century.  The  novitiates  of  the  Order  through  all  the 
seven  hundred  years  of  its  existence  have  been  marked 
by  a  severe  simplicity.  Each  novice  has  a  small  sep- 
arate room,  just  large  enough  to  contain  a  bed,  a  table 
and  one  or  two  chairs.  No  luxury  is  allowed.  His 
couch  is  hard;  the  only  ornaments  of  his  cell  a  crucifix 
and  a  few  pious  pictures.  The  part  of  the  house  in 
which  these  young  aspirants  live  must  be  shut  off  from 
that  occupied  by  the  fathers.  But  the  extreme  pov- 
erty of  the  American  province  at  the  time  of  Charles 
McKenna's  entrance  into  the  Order  caused  life  at 


46  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

the  novitiate  of  Saint  Joseph's  to  be  not  merely  the 
plainest  of  the  plain,  but  even  exceptionally  severe. 
The  food  of  the  novices  was  both  poor  in  quality  and 
scant  in  quantity;  their  clothing  barely  sufficient.  A 
brave  heart  and  a  strong  constitution  were  then  re- 
quired for  perseverance.  Thus,  about  the  only  tem- 
poral solace  Brother  Hyacinth  enjoyed  during  his  year 
of  probation  was  found  in  the  kindness  of  his  superiors, 
the  companionship  of  his  fellow  novices  at  the  hours 
of  recreation,  the  peaceful  charm  and  the  pastoral  sim- 
plicity of  the  surrounding  country.  Yet  he  was 
happy  and  joyful  with  a  spiritual  joy,  for  he  was 
united  to  God  by  the  bonds  of  the  religious  life  and  on 
the  highway  to  the  attainment  of  his  life's  ambition* 
Early  to  bed  and  early  to  rise  was  the  rule  of  the 
young  neophytes.  At  four-twenty  in  the  morning  the 
excitator  rang  the  bell;  then  he  gently  tapped  at  the 
door  of  each,  calling  out,  as  he  did  so,  "  Let  us  praise 
the  Lord"  (Benedicamus  Domino).  To  this  the  occu- 
pant of  the  cell  responded:  " Thanks  be  to  God"  (Deo 
gr atlas),  as  he  rose  promptly  from  his  couch.  With 
this  began  the  round  of  the  day's  exercises.  In  twenty 
minutes  all  were  in  choir  for  morning  prayers,  medi- 
tation and  mass.  Then  followed  a  frugal  breakfast, 
after  which  came  such  household  duties  as  making  their 
beds,  cleaning  their  rooms,  sweeping  the  corridors 
and  the  hall  for  recreation;  for  in  the  Order  cleanli- 
ness is  next  to  godliness.  Beginning  with  eight 
o'clock,  some  classes,  lessons  in  the  rule,  constitutions 
and  chant  of  the  Order,  spiritual  reading,  instructions 
and  other  religious  exercises,  interspersed  now  and 
then  with  a  modest  amount  of  manual  labor  an£  odd 
moments  of  recreation,  followed  one  another  in  regu- 


SAINT  JOSEPH'S  PRIORY  AND  CHURCH,  SOMERSET    OHIO. 


COLLEGE  DAYS  AND  NOVITIATE.  47 

lar  succession  throughout  the  day.  Everything  had  its 
place  and  its  importance.  Through  all  the  training 
of  the  Order  concrete  personal  results  are  sought,  not 
vague,  intangible  generalities;  for  the  former  only  are 
met  with  in  real  life  and  go  to  form  real  character, 
whether  in  or  out  of  religion. 

In  this  way,  Brother  Hyacinth  McKenna's  year  of 
strict  novitiate  passed  quickly  and  happily.3  Next  to 
the  attainment  of  personal  sanctity,  in  accordance  with 
the  special  rule  of  his  own  institute,  he  sought,  under 
the  guidance  of  Father  Sheridan,  to  realize  in  himself 
the  ideals  of  Saint  Dominic,  the  founder  of  the  great 
Order  towards  which  he  had  been  impelled  from  his 
childhood  as  if  by  some  mystic  power.  For  this 
reason,  he  devoted  much  of  his  spare  time  to  the  study 
of  the  life  and  labors  of  the  holy  man  of  Caleruega 
and  the  other  saints  of  the  Order.  Thus,  in  the  days 
of  his  novitiate  he  laid  the  foundations  of  a  wide  knowl- 
edge of  Dominican  history  and  traditions.  Subjects 
of  a  kindred  character  nearer  home  also  occupied  his 
mind  at  this  time.  But  of  this  later. 

Towards  the  end  of  his  novitiate  Brother  Hyacinth 
was  unanimously  admitted  for  his  religious  profession. 
On  April  20,  1863,  kneeling  before  his  prior,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  sacramental  God,  his  hands  placed  between 
those  of  his  superior  and  supporting  the  book  of  con- 
stitutions, the  pious  novice  read  in  unfaltering  voice 
these  words  which  made  him  a  member  of  the  Order 
of  Saint  Dominic: 

"I,  Brother  Charles  Hyacinth  McKenna,  make  my  religious 
profession  and  promise  obedience  to  God,  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 

s  The  happy  year  he  spent  in  the  novitiate  was  another  topic  on  which 
the  good  priest  loved  to  descant  with  the  students  of  the  Order. 


48  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Mary,  to  Saint  Dominic,  and  to  you,  Very  Rev.  Father  Michael 
Dominic  Lilly,  prior  of  this  convent  of  St.  Joseph  and  holding 
the  place  of  the  Most  Rev.  Vincent  Jandel,  Master  General  of 
the  Order,  and  his  successors,  according  to  the  rule  of  Saint 
Augustine  and  the  constitutions  of  the  Friars  Preacher.  To 
you  and  to  your  successors  I  promise  obedience  until  death." 

Nothing  could  be  more  simple,  or  at  the  same  time 
more  solemn  and  sublime  in  its  extreme  simplicity,  than 
the  ceremonial  for  profession  among  the  Friars 
Preacher.  As  a  modern  writer  beautifully  expresses 
it: 

"  The  absence  of  all  external  splendour  sets  in  clear  light  the 
superhuman  beauty  and  the  profound  signification  of  what  is 
taking  place.  Here  is  simply  a  man  who  is  giving  himself  to 
God,  wholly,  unreservedly,  until  death.  And  he  says  so  in  a  few 
brief  words  shorn  of  all  rhetoric ;  yet  no  one  who  retains  any 
sense  of  supramundane  realities  can  fail  to  be  stirred  to  the 
very  depths  of  his  soul  when  he  witnesses  the  scene."4 

The  new  member  promises  obedience  first  of  all  to 
God,  to  show  that  he  obeys  Him  rather  than  man. 
He  promises  obedience  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  whereby 
he  is  reminded  that  the  Queen  of  Heaven  is  the 
patroness  and  protectrix  of  the  Order,  to  whom  all 
its  members  owe  a  special  filial  devotion.  While  the 
name  of  the  visible  head  of  the  Church  is  not  men- 
tioned, every  one  knows  that  the  Order  and  its  brethren 
are  subject  to  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  in  all  things. 
The  name  of  Saint  Dominic  is  included  that  each 
newly  professed  member  may  the  more  readily  realize 
that  the  founder  of  the  Order,  next  to  the  Divine 
Master,  is  the  ideal  after  which  he  should  strive  to 

«  POPE,  The  Friar  Preacher  Yesterday  and  Today  (an  English  transla- 
tion of  Pfere  Jaquin's  Le  Frere  Precheur  Autrefoit  et  Aujourdhui),  p.  140. 


COLLEGE  DAYS  AND  NOVITIATE.  49 

model  his  life  as  a  religious.  And,  finally,  the  reason 
for  making  the  profession  to  the  local  superior,  not  in 
his  own  name,  but  as  acting  in  the  place  of  the  Master 
General,  is  to  signify  where  the  supreme  authority  and 
the  principle  of  unity  in  the  Order  lie.  But,  as  is 
shown  by  the  last  sentence  in  the  form  of  profession, 
this  by  no  means  frees  the  subject  from  the  strictest 
obligation  of  full  and  complete  obedience  to  every  su- 
perior under  whom  he  may  be  placed.  Obedience, 
indeed,  is  regarded  as  the  very  essence  of  the  Order's 
life.  It  is,  in  fact,  expressly  to  emphasize  this  im- 
portant truth  that  it  is  the  only  one  of  the  three  re- 
ligious vows  mentioned  in  the  formula  of  profession — 
those  of  poverty  and  chastity  being  contained  in  that 
of  obedience,  as  beauty  and  sweetness  in  the  rose,  or 
as  purity  and  sanctity  in  the  soul. 

At  his  profession  the  Friar  Preacher  takes  upon 
himself  the  obligation  of  making  the  rule  of  Saint 
Augustine  and  the  constitutions  of  the  Order  of  Saint 
Dominic,  in  addition  to  canon  law  and  the  Catholic 
code  of  morality,  the  guide  of  his  life.  He  binds  him- 
self to  strive  after  perfection;  and  for  this  reason,  he 
may  no  longer  rest  content  with  the  observance  of 
things  of  precept  merely,  but  also  must  strive  to  follow 
the  evangelical  counsels. 

All  this  Brother  Hyacinth  McKenna  knew  well. 
With  full  knowledge  and  a  brave  heart  did  he  take 
these  obligations  upon  himself  when  he  gave  himself, 
in  the  spring  of  1863,  wholly  and  unreservedly  to  God. 
How  well  he  fulfilled  them  will  be  seen  in  the  course 
of  these  pages. 


CHAPTER    V. 

CLERICAL  STUDENT. 
(1862-1867) 

THE  simple  or  strict  novitiate  of  a  Dominican  is 
followed  by  what  is  known  in  the  Order  as  the  noviti- 
ate of  professed  clerics,  which  extends  over  a  period  of 
four  or  more  years,  according  as  one  has  or  has  not 
made  any  philosophical  or  theological  studies  prior  to 
entering  the  institute.  While  it  is  not  devoted  so  ex- 
pressly to  the  religious  training  of  the  young  men  as 
the  simple  novitiate,  this  period  also  is  a  time  of  spirit- 
ual formation,  the  purpose  of  which  is  further  to  pre- 
pare them  for  their  vocation.1 

The  religious  life  is  a  striving  after  perfection.  Ab- 
solute perfection,  which  means  a  perfect  union  with 
God  through  charity  or  love  of  Him  above  all  things 
else,  and  of  our  fellowman  for  His  sake,  is  a  preroga- 
tive of  the  saints  in  heaven.  Although  our  fallen  na- 
ture and  inherent  limitations  prevent  the  attainment  of 
such  a  perfect  union  with  God  here  on  earth,  it  is  the 
ideal  after  which  religious  are  bound  by  their  state  and 
their  vows  to  strive.  This  is  why  the  religious  life  is 
called  a  state  of  perfection.  While  the  various  orders 
differ  in  spirit,  habit  and  vocation,  they  all  agree  in 
this,  that  they  aim  to  bring  their  subjects  nearer  to  God 
through  the  bond  of  charity.  The  means  by  which  the 

i  Everyone,  even  those  who  are  priests  before  entering  the  Order,  are 
required  by  law  to  spend  at  least  five  years  under  the  direction  of  the  mas- 
ter of  novices. 

60 


CLERICAL  STUDENT.  51 

members  of  every  religious  organization  must  approach 
the  ideal  the  blessed  in  heaven  have  realized,  is  fidelity 
to  the  rules  and  constitutions  of  their  respective  insti- 
tutes. But  monastic  observances  are  hard  to  human 
nature.  One  must  needs  be  trained  to  them  until 
they  become  firmly  ingrained  habits — a  second  nature 
that  is  not  the  growth  of  any  brief  period,  but  the 
product  of  years  of  earnest,  systematic  effort.  For 
this  reason  a  long  course  of  religious  formation  is  of 
paramount  importance  in  any  religious  order.  It  is 
especially  necessary  in  that  of  the  Friars  Preacher, 
whose  lives  are  pre-eminently  apostolic,  and  whose 
vocation  demands  that  they  follow  the  example  of  their 
founder,  going  out  into  the  world  to  accomplish  their 
mission  of  saving  souls. 

The  Dominican  has  a  twofold  life.  Having  many 
things  in  common  with  the  Canon  Regular,  from  whom 
he  is  descended,  he  is  deeply  contemplative.  Yet,  he  is 
by  no  means  a  monk;  for  his  life  is  above  all  things 
active  and  apostolic.  The  prime  object  of  Saint  Dom- 
inic's Order  is  the  salvation  of  souls  by  preaching  and 
teaching,  and  the  Friar  Preacher  must  prepare  himself 
within  cloistered  walls  by  prayer  and  contemplation 
for  the  effective  exercise  of  this  ministry.  Thus,  while 
prayer  and  contemplation  are  the  end  of  the  monk's 
life,  in  that  of  the  Dominican  they  are  a  means  to  an 
end.  The  young  Friar  Preacher  must  pray  and  medi- 
tate, practice  obedience,  humility  and  mortification, 
ground  himself  in  good  habits  and  sound  principles, 
acquire  a  love  of  God  and  zeal  for  souls,  study  to  be- 
come a  learned  priest — all  with  a  view  not  merely  to 
his  own  personal  sanctification,  but  to  prepare  himself 
to  become  a  fruitful  harvester  of  souls. 


52  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

This  was  the  ideal  which  Brother  Hyacinth  Mc- 
Kenna,  under  the  direction  of  the  pious  master  of  nov- 
ices, constantly  endeavored  to  realize  in  himself 
throughout  his  professed  novitiate.  His  aim  was  not 
merely  to  ground  himself  well  in  those  solid  virtues 
which  would  be  so  necessary  in  his  future  life  as  a 
priest  engaged  in  the  Lord's  vineyard,  but  to  imbibe 
the  spirit  that  would  make  him  a  true  son  of  the 
founder  of  his  Order — Saint  Dominic. 

The  lives  of  the  Order's  saints  and  blessed,  its  tradi- 
tions and  those  of  his  own  province,  were  both  food 
for  Brother  Hyacinth's  soul  and  an  inspiration  to  con- 
tinue his  preparation  for  the  priestly  labors  he  looked 
forward  to  with  eagerness.  Happily,  he  was  located 
at  an  institution  where  he  could  drink,  to  his  heart's 
content,  of  the  province's  best  traditions.  No  spot  in 
Ohio  is  so  hallowed  with  memories  of  its  early  missions 
and  missionaries  as  old  Saint  Joseph's,  the  cradle  of 
Catholicity  in  the  state.  These  were  topics  that  ever 
appealed  with  special  force  to  Brother  Hyacinth.  At 
Saint  Joseph's  he  learned  to  admire  the  heroic  sacri- 
fices made  by  his  brethren  in  behalf  of  Ohio's  infant 
Church,  and  rejoiced  that  members  of  his  Order  were 
the  apostles  of  that  flourishing  commonwealth.  The 
pious  student  lived  and  re-lived  in  spirit  the  lives  of 
such  men  as  Bishops  Fenwick,  Miles  and  Hynes, 
Fathers  John  A.  Hill,  Samuel  L.  and  Charles  P. 
Montgomery,  Thomas  Martin,  Daniel  J.  O'Leary, 
Raphael  Munos,  John  V.  De  Raymacker,  Anthony  D. 
Fahy  and  Nicholas  D.  Young,  not  to  mention  a  score 
or  more  of  others  who  had  labored  there  with  great 
success  in  the  early  days. 

Happily,  Father  Dominic  Young  still  lived.     It  was 


CLERICAL  STUDENT.  53 

the  patriarchal  missionary's  custom,  when  on  his  occa- 
sional visits  to  the  scenes  of  his  former  apostolic  labors, 
to  regale  the  clerical  students  with  stories  of  the  lives, 
work  and  hardships  of  the  fathers  in  the  olden  times, 
both  in  Ohio,  where  he  had  been  one  of  the  first  to  sow 
the  seed  of  the  Gospel,  and  in  Kentucky,  where  he  had 
been  one  of  the  first  to  enter  the  Order  of  Friars 
Preacher  in  the  United  States.  These  visits  of  the 
pioneer  priest  were  as  balm  to  the  soul  of  Brother 
Hyacinth  McKenna.  With  avidity  did  he  drink  in 
the  history  and  the  traditions  of  the  beginnings  of  his 
province  in  the  New  World;  and  these  he  treasured 
as  highly  as  he  did  those  of  the  early  days  of  the  Order 
in  the  Old. 

But  to  make  these  influences  in  the  life  of  Father 
McKenna  clearer  to  the  reader  a  brief  word  on  the  his- 
tory of  Ohio's  early  Church  is  necessary.  It  was  in  1808, 
or  1810,  that  Father  Edward  Dominic  Fenwick,  at  the 
request  of  Bishop  Flaget  and  with  the  consent  of  his 
provincial,  made  his  first  visit  to  Ohio  from  Kentucky. 
The  discovery  on  this  occasion  of  three  German  Catho- 
lic families  at  Somerset,  Perry  County,  marks  the 
birth  of  Catholicity  in  a  state  in  which  the  growth  of 
the  Church  has  been  so  marvelous  that  it  has  today  a 
metropolitan  see  and  three  bishoprics,  together  with  a 
Catholic  population  of  about  eight  hundred  thousand. 
From  that  time  Father  Fenwick  made  periodical  mis- 
sionary tours  through  Ohio  until  late  in  1816  or  early 
in  1817,  when  he  began  to  give  his  entire  attention  to 
the  Catholics  of  the  north.  In  1818  he  was  joined  in 
these  labors  by  his  nephew,  Rev.  N.  D.  Young.  This 
latter  year  was  made  memorable  by  the  erection  of 
Ohio's  first  Catholic  temple  of  prayer,  Saint  Joseph's, 


54  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

near  Somerset;  for  it  was  on  December  6, 181 8,  that  the 
little  log  church,  dedicated  to  the  foster-father  of  our 
Lord,  was  blessed  by  Fathers  Fenwick  and  Young 
and  opened  to  the  faithful. 

Alone,  these  two  sons  of  Saint  Dominic  traversed  the 
state  in  every  direction  for  more  than  three  years  "in 
search  of  strayed  sheep,"  to  employ  a  phrase  that  has 
been  canonized  from  its  use  by  Ohio's  first  saintly 
ordinary.  February  13,  1822,  Father  Fenwick  was 
consecrated  bishop  of  the  newly  created  see  of  Cin- 
cinnati; and  from  that  date  until  the  arrival,  in  1833, 
of  Bishop  Purcell,  Cincinnati's  second  ordinary,  few 
besides  the  white-robed  friars  gave  their  lives  to  the 
missions  of  Ohio.  Those  were  hard  days;  the  labors 
were  harder.  None  have  given  themselves  more  gen- 
erously to  or  deserved  better  of  the  Church  in  Ohio 
than  the  Friars  Preacher.  Their  hands  planted  it; 
their  toil  cultivated  it ;  the  sweat  of  their  brows  watered 
it;  with  watchful  eye  they  looked  after  its  growth. 

It  was  at  the  two  well-springs  of  Dominicanism  in 
the  United  States,  Saint  Joseph's,  Somerset,  Ohio, 
and  Saint  Rose's,  Springfield,  Kentucky,  around  which 
still  cling  many  precious  memories  of  the  heroic  past, 
that  the  subject  of  our  biography  received  his  training 
in  the  religious  life.  Nor  can  it  be  denied,  we  think, 
that  their  traditions  played  an  important  part  in  the 
formation  of  his  character. 

It  is  not,  as  has  been  said,  the  spirit  of  the  Order  to 
unmake  one's  individuality,  but  rather  to  develop  it 
along  sane  lines,  eliminating  merely  undesirable  per- 
sonal peculiarities.  Nor  is  the  Order's  spirit  at  all 
morose;  it  is  one  of  joy  and  reasonable  cheerfulness. 
This,  in  part,  explains  an  interesting  incident  that  is  told 


i  CLERICAL  STUDENT.  55 

of  the  present  period  of  Brother  Hyacinth's  religious 
life.  Pious,  humble  and  retiring  though  he  was,  at 
times  he  indulged  in  a  modest  use  of  his  native  Irish 
wit.  After  his  profession  he  was  appointed  sacristan. 
As  sacristan  it  was  his  duty  to  prepare  altar  neces- 
saries for  the  fathers  in  charge  of  the  various  country 
missions  then  attended  from  Saint  Joseph's.  One  of 
the  reverend  clergymen,  a  rather  officious  character, 
often  took  it  upon  himself  to  reprove  Brother  Hya- 
cinth. On  one  occasion,  when  he  had  been  more  than 
usually  severe,  the  good  priest  remarked  by  way  of 
apology:  "Brother,  I  do  this  on  principle;  for  I  be- 
lieve it  a  good  thing  to  try  novices,  that  we  may  learn 
their  disposition  before  admitting  them  to  the  final  pro- 
fession." "Father,"  was  the  ready  reply,  "I  did  not 
know  the  devil  had  employed  you  to  tempt  the  nov- 
ices." Needless  to  say,  this  was  the  last  time  that 

Father  essayed  such  an  explanation  of  his 

reprimands. 

After  simple  profession,  the  Order's  long,  serious 
course  of  studies  begins  in  earnest.  The  study  of 
scholastic  philosophy  and  theology,  for  which  the  Friar 
Preacher  is  noted,  covers  a  period  of  seven  years.  Of 
these,  three  years  are  given  to  the  former  subject  and 
four  to  the  latter.  But  while  these  two  sciences,  be- 
cause the  students  are  destined  for  the  priesthood,  de- 
mand first  consideration  in  the  curriculum,  the  other 
branches  usual  in  institutions  of  higher  Catholic  edu- 
cation, such  as  Scripture,  canon  law  and  history,  must 
go  side  by  side  with  scholasticism.  Yet,  if  these  latter 
studies  are  to  be  given  especial  attention,  this  must  be 
done  after  the  completion  of  the  ordinary  curriculum. 
Today  one  must  make  an  additional  two  years'  post- 


56  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

graduate  course  before  being  allowed  to  teach  in  any 
studium  of  the  Order.  Only  in  exceptional  cases,  or 
exceptional  circumstances,  is  there  a  deviation  from 
these  rules.  That  the  studies  may  be  the  more  ad- 
vantageous because  of  their  continuity,  they  are  not 
allowed,  in  spite  of  their  length,  to  be  interrupted.2 

Because  of  his  years  and  the  great  need  for  priests  at 
the  time,  an  exception  was  made  for  Brother  Hyacinth 
McKenna.  During  his  simple  novitiate,  for  instance, 
he  was  permitted  to  begin  the  study  of  philosophy,  into 
which  he  entered  with  the  earnestness  that  charac- 
terized his  entire  life.  But  he  did  not  suffer  the  subtle- 
ties of  scholasticism  to  interfere  with  the  observance  of 
the  rule  or  the  practice  of  his  religious  duties — to  chill 
his  love  of  prayer  or  his  thirst  after  perfection. 

Now  that  his  simple  novitiate  was  completed,  the 
hardworking  student  gave  himself  up  to  his  ecclesias- 
tical studies  with  all  the  ardor  of  his  soul.  Here,  too, 
his  progress  was  most  satisfactory,  as  had  been  his  suc- 
cess in  the  classics  at  the  college  of  Sinsinawa  Mound. 

Trials,  it  is  said,  at  least  in  early  life,  contribute 
much  towards  the  making  of  a  man,  whether  in  the 
temporal  or  spiritual  order.  The  reader  may  fancy 
that  the  young  Friar  Preacher  had  already  received 
more  than  his  share ;  but  the  divine  wisdom,  with  deeper 
vision,  had  yet  others  in  store  for  him,  possibly  fur- 
ther to  purify  his  great  soul  now  that  he  had  entered 
upon  the  higher  life. 

Early  in  January,  1864,  just  when  the  future  orator 
and  missionary  had  well  begun  his  ecclesiastical  course, 
the  church  and  convent  of  Saint  Joseph  were  burned, 
upsetting  the  community  and  increasing  the  burden  of 

2  The  Order's  constitutions  have  many  regulations  on  this  heading. 


CLERICAL  STUDENT.  57 

poverty  with  which  the  institution  was  already  op- 
pressed. Close  upon  this  disaster  followed  another. 
In  the  spring  of  the  same  year  troubles  induced  by  the 
Civil  War  necessitated  a  division  of  the  novices. 
Brother  Hyacinth  McKenna  was  sent  to  Sinsinawa 
Mound,  where  he  had  the  happiness  of  seeing  his  good 
mother,  and  where  he  continued  his  studies  until  he 
could  return  to  Ohio.  We  see  him  back  at  old  Saint 
Joseph's,  however,  for  the  fall  term  of  1864;  but  over- 
application  and  the  confined  life  of  a  student  had  now 
begun  to  undermine  the  strong  constitution  that  had 
been  accustomed  to  hard  labor  in  the  open  air.  Indeed, 
his  health  was  so  broken  that  for  the  remainder  of  his 
scholastic  days  he  was  obliged  to  do  the  greater  part 
of  his  studying  out  of  doors. 

Yet,  it  would  seem  from  the  following  letter  to  his 
sister — the  earliest  we  have  been  able  to  find  from  his 
pen — that  the  humble  student  was  anxious  to  conceal 
the  knowledge  of  his  ill  health  from  his  people.  The 
document  deserves  insertion  in  its  entirety,  as  it  shows 
how  far  life  in  a  religious  order  is  from  drying  up  the 
well  of  natural  love  for  one's  family,  and  gives  us  an 
insight  into  the  young  Friar  Preacher's  high  ideals 
and  deep  piety. 

"  ST.  JOSEPH'S  CONVENT, 

"Feb.  27,  1866. 
"  Dear  Sister: 

"  It  is  now  several  weeks  since  I  wrote  you,  but  I  have  not  yet 
received  an  answer.  I  wanted  to  know  in  my  last  letter  whether 
you  had  heard  anything  of  John  or  not.  Since  then  I  received 
a  letter  from  Alick  informing  me  that  he  had  written  home,  in- 
viting John  here,  and  that  he  expects  him  out  in  the  Spring. 
Alick  states  that  Mother  and  Matty  are  well,  and  that  his  own 
health  is  as  usual. 


58  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

"My  own  health,  thanks  to  our  dear  Lord,  is  good,  notwith- 
standing the  black  fast  of  Lent  and  close  application  to  studies. 
I  have  nothing  of  importance  to  communicate,  except  that  our 
Most  Rev.  Archbishop  was  here  and  conferred  minor  orders  on 
ten  novices,  three  of  whom  afterwards  were  elevated  to  the  sub- 
lime dignity  of  the  priesthood.  I,  thanks  to  the  mercies  of  our 
Lord,  was  one  of  the  ten ;  but,  I  need  not  add,  I  was  not  of  the 
three.  But  this,  I  suppose,  is  no  longer  news,  as  an  account  of 
the  ordination  has  been  published  in  many  of  the  Catholic 
papers.3 

"Applications  for  admission  into  our  hallowed  walls  were 
never  so  numerous  as  at  present.  Eternal  thanks  to  our  great 
Creator !  His  voice  is  still  heard  calling  His  chosen  few  to  for- 
sake all  and  follow  Him.  Dear  Sister,  the  next  few  months  will 
be  the  most  important  in  my  life.  It  is  for  this  I  write  in  order 
to  recommend  myself  more  earnestly  than  ever  to  your  prayers, 
and  to  those  of  the  children.  Recommend  also  your  intention 
to  some  fervent  souls.  And  be  assured  that  I  will  not  forget  you 
and  them  hereafter. 

"  Oh,  my  Dear  Sister,  think  of  that  sublime  dignity  to  which 
so  miserable  a  wretch  as  I  aspire!  What  purity,  what  sanctity 
is  necessary  to  approach  the  Infinite  Sanctity!  to  hold,  to  conse- 
crate, to  receive  and  to  administer  the  adorable  Lord  of  heaven 
and  earth!  Pray,  then,  unceasingly  that  the  Divine  Master 
may  purify  and  sanctify  His  most  unworthy  servant;  and  be- 
seech the  purest  of  creatures,  our  dear  Immaculate  Mother,  that 
she  may  obtain  for  me  some  of  those  graces  that  were  so  pleasing 
in  the  sight  of  God  as  to  draw  upon  her  the  eternal  love. 

"  I  had  a  Mass  said  today  for  poor  Neil,  and  one  last  week 
for  my  father.  Remember  my  request.  Write  soon  to  your 
loving 

"  Brother  Hyacinth,  O.S.D. 

"  Tell  the  children  that  Uncle  Charley  does  not  forget  them."4 

«  He  received  minor  orders,  February  2,  1866. 

*  Letter  to  Mrs.  Roger  Dougherty,  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania;  copy  fur- 
nished by  Miss  Mary  Dougherty. 


.  CLERICAL  STUDENT.  59 

After  the  burning  of  Saint  Joseph's  Convent  in 
1864,  the  college  of  the  same  name  which  had  been 
suspended — owing  to  the  war — was  used  as  a  shelter 
for  the  community.  But  a  second  disaster  was  now 
to  rob  them  of  this  home  also.  On  June  7,  1866, 
Saint  Mary's  Academy,  at  Somerset,  was  destroyed 
by  fire,  and  the  good  Dominican  sisters  who  were  thus 
left  without  a  roof,  were  given  the  use  of  the  college 
buildings.  The  fathers'  residence  was  transferred  to 
a  small  brick  house  at  the  rear  of  the  church,  while  the 
novices  were  sent  with  their  master  to  Saint  Rose's 
Priory,  near  Springfield,  Kentucky. 

Truly  a  man  of  God,  our  friar  student  bore  all  these 
trials  and  changes  with  patience  and  resignation.  He 
felt  that  the  power  of  Him  who  had  sent  them  could 
and  would  bring  good  out  of  evil  for  those  who  loved 
Him.  Nor  did  the  laborious  novice  suffer  his  broken 
health  to  be  the  occasion  of  negligence  in  his  studies. 
None,  indeed,  studied  harder  than  he,  or  were  more 
regular  in  attendance  at  class.  Even  in  the  summer 
vacations  he  might  be  seen  any  day  strolling  leisurely 
through  the  primeval  woods  that  then  stood  near  the 
convent,  or  sitting  under  the  shade  of  some  majestic 
tree,  absorbed  in  study  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  or 
poring  over  a  volume  of  theology,  history,  or  biogra- 
phy. With  him  study  and  reading  were  not  only  a 
pleasure,  but  a  sacred  means  of  preparing  for  the  great 
mission  towards  which  he  anxiously  looked  forward. 

From  more  than  one  point  of  view,  Brother  Hya- 
cinth McKenna's  transfer  to  Kentucky  was  a  fortu- 
nate circumstance  in  his  life.  His  residence  there 
completed  his  education  in  the  history  and  early  tra- 
ditions of  his  Order  in  the  United  States.  The  cradle 


60  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

of  the  Order  in  the  country,  no  place  is  so  rich  in  rem- 
iniscences of  the  province's  founders  or  of  its  first 
labors  and  struggles  as  old  Saint  Rose's;  no  spot  so 
intimately  connected  with  such  revered  names  as  those 
of  the  learned  Father  Samuel  T.  Wilson  and  the 
saintly  Fathers  Edward  D.  Fenwick  and  William  R. 
Tuite.  For  this  reason,  Saint  Rose's  gained  a  strong 
hold  on  Father  McKenna's  affections.  To  the  day 
of  his  death  he  never  tired  speaking  of  the  four 
happy  years  he  spent  at  that  place.  There  also  he 
came  into  intimate  contact  with  one  who  perhaps  more 
than  any  other  exercised  a  formative  influence  on  his 
life — the  Rev.  Matthew  A.  O'Brien,  O.P.,  who  was  re- 
garded as  a  saint  by  all  who  knew  him. 

In  Kentucky  also  the  future  missioner  had  for 
one  of  his  professors  Father  Bernard  Chocarne,  the 
learned  author  of  the  Inner  Life  of  the  eminent  Do- 
minican orator  and  restorer  of  the  Order  of  Friars 
Preacher  in  France — Pere  Lacordaire.  Possibly  it 
was  through  Father  Chocarne  that  he  was  introduced 
to  the  rich  field  of  ecclesiastical  literature  offered  the 
student  of  the  French  language,  which  the  holy  man 
later  became  so  fond  of  reading.  From  Father  Cho- 
carne also  he  learned  about  Pere  Lacordaire's  life, 
both  public  and  private,  about  the  aims  of  the  great 
preacher  and  saintly  religious,  as  well  as  about  his 
opinions  on  the  true  spirit  and  work  of  the  Dominican 
Order.  But  of  this  we  shall  have  to  speak  in  the  follow- 
ing chapter,  in  which  we  shall  treat  of  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's ordination  and  the  first  years  of  his  priesthood. 


SAINT  ROSE'S  CHURCH  AND  PRIORY,  SPRINGFIELD,  KENTUCKY. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

ORDINATION,  YOUNG  PRIEST  AND  MASTER  OF 

NOVICES. 

(1867-1870) 

BECAUSE  of  his  impaired  health,  his  age  and  the 
great  need  for  priests,  Brother  Hyacinth  McKenna's 
course  of  philosophy  was  shortened  by  one  year.  Thus 
by  the  fall  of  1867  he  was  ready  for  ordination.  But 
as  the  see  of  Louisville  was  then  without  an  ordinary, 
he  could  not  be  ordained  in  the  diocese  in  which  he 
lived.  Accordingly,  he  was  sent  to  Cincinnati  where 
(in  the  cathedral)  he  received  subdeaconship  from 
Bishop  Quinlan  of  Mobile,  October  11,  and  on  the  two 
following  days  was  ordained  successively  deacon  and 
priest  by  the  Most  Rev.  John  B.  Purcell. 

The  present  custom  of  allowing  the  newly  ordained 
to  go  to  their  homes  that  their  parents  may  have  the 
consolation  of  assisting  at  their  first  holy  sacrifice  of 
the  mass,  did  not  exist  in  those  more  rugged  days. 
So  the  young  priest  returned  to  Saint  Rose's  Convent, 
where  he  celebrated  his  first  solemn  mass  the  following 
Sunday,  October  20,  1867,  in  the  little  country  church 
of  the  same  name  attached  to  the  priory.  The  dream 
of  the  holy  man's  life  had  now  become  a  reality — he 
was  a  Dominican  friar  and  a  priest  of  God.  He  was 
supremely  happy,  except  for  his  ardent  desire  to  sat- 
isfy his  aged  mother's  longing  to  see  him  officiate  at 
the  altar  as  a  minister  of  the  Almighty.  This  favor 
also  was  soon  to  be  granted  him,  for  in  response  to  the 

61 


62  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

good  woman's  entreaties  he  was  allowed  to  pay  her  a 
brief  visit.  Arriving  at  Bankston  Settlement,  Iowa, 
Friday,  November  15,  he  said  mass  the  next  three 
mornings  in  the  Church  of  Saint  Clement  in  the  pres- 
ence of  his  mother  and  sisters,  and  preached  on  Sun- 
day. Mrs.  McKenna's  maternal  heart  must  have  been 
full  to  overflowing  on  this  occasion,  which  was  the  last 
time  but  one  they  met  on  earth.1 

Rev.  Charles  H.  McKenna  was  thirty-two  years  of 
age  at  the  time  of  his  ordination.  Although  he  was 
left  at  Saint  Rose's  as  a  student  priest,  early  in  1868 
his  deep  piety  and  exemplary  religious  life  led  to  his 
appointment  as  assistant  to  Father  Sheridan,  the  mas- 
ter of  novices.  A  little  later  in  the  same  year,  when 
Father  Sheridan  was  sent  to  Saint  Louis  Bertrand's, 
Louisville,  to  fill  the  post  of  master  of  the  professed 
novices,  who  had  been  transferred  to  that  place  from 
Saint  Rose's  in  the  fall  of  1867,  our  future  missioner, 
now  that  he  had  completed  his  studies,  succeeded  to 
the  position  of  master  of  the  simple  novices  at  the 
latter  institution. 

In  those  days,  as  there  were  few  priests  and  much 
to  be  done,  we  often  find  many  offices  vested  in  one 
man.  In  addition  to  the  responsible  position  men- 
tioned, young  Father  McKenna  was  soon  appointed 
subprior  in  his  convent  and  confessor  to  the  Domin- 
ican Sisters  of  Saint  Catherine's  Academy,  about  a 
half-mile  from  the  priory.  In  the  discharge  of  these 
various  offices  he  showed  the  same  spirit  of  zeal  and  un- 
flagging industry  that  had  characterized  his  previous 
life  as  a  student  and  as  a  man  in  the  world.  The  ob- 
jects of  his  principal  solicitude,  however,  were  the 

i  The  last  time  Father  McKenna  saw  his  mother  was  in  1869,  when  he 
was  called  home  on  pressing  business. 


YOUNG  PRIEST  AND  MASTER  OF  NOVICES.     63 

young  neophytes  of  the  Order.  Faithfully  did  he 
walk  in  the  footsteps  of  his  own  revered  master,  Father 
Sheridan.  With  painstaking  care  did  he  teach  the 
young  men  under  his  charge;  drill  them  in  the  ways 
of  prayer  and  meditation;  instruct  them  in  the  rules, 
rubrics  and  constitutions,  spirit  and  traditions  of  the 
Order,  and  in  the  customs  of  his  province:  in  a  word, 
form  them  in  the  religious  life. 

To  give  in  detail  Father  McKenna's  method  of 
training  the  young  candidates  for  the  Order  were  but 
to  repeat  what  has  been  said  already  of  his  own  forma- 
tion. He  had,  however,  a  broader  view  of  things  and 
a  truer  appreciation  of  the  scope,  end  and  purpose  of 
the  life  of  the  Friar  Preacher  than  his  predecessor; 
and  this  view  and  appreciation  he  sought  prudently 
and  carefully  to  instil  into  the  minds  of  his  youthful 
charges.2 

With  his  deep  piety  was  blended  a  breadth  of  mind 
which  told  him  that  the  spirit  of  his  Order  did  not 
demand  the  ever  unrelaxed  life  of  a  Carthusian;  that 
occasional  amusements  were  good  for  the  soul,  as  well 
as  for  the  body.  During  the  hours  of  recreation,  he 
insisted  that  the  novices  should  enjoy  themselves,  and 
he  himself  joined  in  their  innocent  sports  with  all  the 
ardor  of  his  Celtic  temperament.  This  twofold  side 
of  Father  McKenna's  character  we  see  aptly  illus- 
trated in  the  following  letter  to  Brother  Antoninus 
McFeeley. 

"  ST.  ROSE'S  CONVENT, 
"  Dear  Brother  Anthony.  "  November  4,  1868. 

"  Please  excuse  me  for  not  answering  your  letter  sooner. 
One  reason  of  the  delay  was  want  of  matter.  I  might  allege 

2  Saintly  Father  Sheridan  believed  that  the  life  of  a  Dominican  was  con- 
templative rather  than  active.  But  of  this  anon. 


64  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

another — want  of  time ;  for  never  was  I  so  much  occupied  as  at 
present.  Together  with  my  duties  as  Novice  Master,  the  Prior 
has  imposed  others  of  no  light  character.  But  welcome  be  the 
will  of  God.  I  try  to  do  my  best. 

"We  are  anxiously  expecting  some  news  from  Father  Pro- 
vincial. All  the  novices  and  postulants,  as  well  as  the  other 
members  of  the  community,  are  well.  We  have  written  on  to 
New  York  for  a  football;  and,  awaiting  its  coming,  we  have 
covered  a  large  bladder  which  gives  us  a  great  deal  of  excite- 
ment. We  played  nearly  an  hour  today  at  one  game,  and  I  had 
to  tell  them  to  desist,  they  were  so  exhausted.  We  have  also 
great  times  at  rabbit-hunting  on  the  days  of  recreation.  We 
caught  five  last  Thursday  morning.  .  .  .  The  last  postulant, 
Brother  Hyacinth  (from  New  York),  is  a  host  at  running  and 
shouting.  He  says  he  never  had  such  enjoyment.  Please  re- 
member me  in  your  prayers.  I  never  needed  prayers  more  than 
at  present.  Write  soon  to  your  loving 

"  Brother  Hyacinth,  O.P."3 

Only  a  few  weeks  before  the  saintly  priest's  death 
the  following  letter,  reminiscent  of  that  period  of  his 
life  and  showing  the  influence  he  exercised  over  those 
under  his  training,  was  received  from  one  who  then 
profited  by  his  spiritual  guidance.4 

"...  In  January,  1868,  it  was  my  good  fortune  to  form  a 
friendship  with  the  Rev.  Charles  H.  MeKenna,  O.P.,  which  has 
lasted  ever  since.  To  me  he  has  always  been  simply  Father 
Hyacinth.  When  I  first  knew  him,  he  had  been  ordained  only 
a  short  time,  and  was  sub-Master  of  Novices  at  the  Convent  of 
St.  Rose,  in  Kentucky.  A  few  months  later  he  became  Master 
of  Novices.  For  two  years  I  was  intimately  associated  with  him 
and  learned  to  love  him  as  a  most  saintly  man.  There  was 
something  severe  about  him,  but  it  did  not  at  all  make  him  for- 

a  In  the  archives  of  the  Dominican  College,  Washington. 
«  Thomas  E.  McArdle,  Washington,  D.  C.,  January  2,  1917. 


YOUNG  PRIEST  AND  MASTER  OF  NOVICES.     65 

bidding.  In  fact,  I  should  call  him  most  lovable.  Nor  did  his 
piety  dull  his  keen  sense  of  humor  or  prevent  him  from  enjoying 
an  innocent  joke.  He  would  laugh  heartily  at  that  which  was 
amusing ;  but  instantly  that  his  laughter  ceased,  his  countenance 
resumed  the  serious  aspect  so  characteristic  of  him.  I  could 
relate  anecdotes  of  him  which  might  give  some  insight  into  his 
character,  as  I  saw  it,  but  they  were  of  such  an  intimate  nature 
as  to  cause  me  to  refrain. 

"  His  piety  was  known  to  all  who  were  thrown  into  contact  with 
him.  To  me,  I  may  say,  were  given  special  opportunities  to 
learn  how  deeply  ascetic  he  really  was.  Father  McKenna's  spir- 
itual reading  and  his  meditations  were  such  as  to  raise  him  to 
the  heights  of  love  and  to  give  him  an  exalted  knowledge  of  the 
interior  life  of  the  soul.  He  brought  his  body  thoroughly  into 
subjection  that  his  spirit  might  have  a  closer  relationship  with 
God.  He  was  my  confessor  and  director,  and  all  the  knowledge 
I  have  of  the  spiritual  life  I  learned  at  his  feet.  I  have  known 
many  holy  men,  but  to  me  Father  McKenna's  interior  life  ap- 
peared to  be  the  most  wonderful  and  extraordinary  that  I  have 
ever  met  with.  Father  Hyacinth  and  I  have  remained  fast 
friends  all  these  many  years ;  nor  have  I  ever  lost  my  great  admi- 
ration for  his  holiness  or  for  his  uniform  kindness.  Always  a 
true  son  of  St.  Dominic,  he  became  in  time  a  most  eloquent 
preacher,  as  well  as  a  great  missionary.  The  good  that  he  has 
done  in  the  pulpit  and  through  the  confessional  none  but  God 
knows.  Another  extraordinary  thing  in  this  saintly  priest's  life 
is  the  great  number  of  vocations  he  has  detected  and  been  the 
means  of  leading  to  their  fulfillment. 

"All  things  considered,  I  doubt  if  the  United  States  has  had 
another  priest  whose  zeal  and  labors  have  been  a  stronger  influ- 
ence for  the  good  of  the  Church  than  those  of  Father  Hyacinth. 
And  I  have  sometimes  been  tempted  to  fancy  that  his  was  in  a 
large  measure  due  to  his  consuming  devotion  to  the  Mother  of 
God.  His  love  for  our  Blessed  Lady  was  really  most  beautiful. 
His  every  thought,  word  and  deed  he  placed  in  her  hands ;  every 
6 


66  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

merit  accruing  from  any  act  of  religion,  from  a  pious  aspiration 
to  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass,  he  gave  to 
her  to  do  with  as  she  pleased.  He  was  a  friend  worth  having." 

But  here  we  must  digress  from  our  subject  to  lay 
before  the  reader  the  trend  of  the  young  priest's 
thoughts  at  this  period,  and  the  influences  that  were 
brought  to  bear  in  the  shaping  of  his  future  life.  No 
apology,  it  seems  to  the  writer,  is  demanded  for  this; 
for  the  biography  that  passes  over  the  things  that  enter 
into  a  man's  life  and  contribute  strongly  to  the  forma- 
tion of  his  character  must  needs  be  imperfect,  if  not 
soulless  and  without  interest. 

Until  the  twelfth  century  the  religious  orders  were 
wholly  contemplative.  Hidden  away  in  mountain 
fastness  or  desert  solitude,  or  shut  up  within  their  clois- 
tered walls,  the  early  cenobites  led  lives  of  complete 
isolation  from  the  world.  Their  retreats  or  monas- 
teries were  mostly  in  places  remote  from  the  habita- 
tion of  man.  There  they  prayed,  watched  and  fasted, 
toiled  in  the  fields  or  studied  in  the  scriptorium.  So 
lived  the  monks  of  old,  whose  great  communities  were 
composed  of  people  drawn  from  every  walk  of  life. 
Among  them  were  men  of  deep  learning.  Most  of 
them,  however,  were  what  today  we  would  call  lay 
brothers,  that  is,  persons  not  intended  for  clerical 
orders,  and  recruited  chiefly  from  among  the  poor  and 
the  tradespeople.  In  times  of  heresy  or  some  calam- 
ity threatening  the  Church,  or  at  the  command  of 
popes,  it  is  true,  those  of  learning  came  forth  from 
their  seclusion  and  did  noble  work  in  the  cause  of 
Christ.  But  this  was  an  exception  to  their  rule 
(praeter  leg  em) ,  not  a  part  of  it.  Their  place,  accord- 
ing to  the  rule  and  spirit  of  their  institutes,  was  in 
their  solitude  or  monastery. 


YOUNG  PRIEST  AND  MASTER  OF  NOVICES.     67 

When,  in  the  thirteenth  century,  Saint  Dominic 
founded  the  Order  that  bears  his  name,  he  departed 
from  this  beaten  path.  Close  study  of  the  world  of 
his  day,  with  which  chance  had  brought  him  into  inti- 
mate contact,  told  him  that  the  Church  had  need  of  a 
religious  order  which  would  not  be  merely  contem- 
plative; that  is,  of  an  order  which  to  the  contemplative 
spirit  of  prayer  and  meditation  would  join,  not  merely 
the  liberty,  but  a  constitutional  obligation  to  do  un- 
ceasing battle  in  the  sacred  cause  of  Christ.  In  the 
mind  of  the  saint,  the  good  of  religion  demanded  the 
creation  of  a  body  of  learned  and  zealous  men  free 
from  all  bonds  that  would  confine  their  activities  to 
the  limits  of  one  diocese,  or  even  of  one  country,  that 
thus  they  might  be  at  liberty  to  go  whereso  the  call  of 
duty  or  authority  should  direct  them  in  the  cause  of 
Christ  and  His  Church. 

To  meet  the  needs  of  his  day — and  who  will  deny 
that  they  are  also  the  needs  of  our  own  times? — the 
chivalrous  and  saintly  thaumaturge  of  Caleruega 
founded  an  Order  of  men  which  happily  combines  the 
active  life  with  the  contemplative:  that  is  to  say,  to 
the  meditative  life  of  the  cloistered  monk  it  unites  that 
of  the  energetic  apostle  in  the  open  arena  of  the  world. 
In  the  plan  of  Dominic,  however,  the  latter,  rather 
than  the  former,  is  to  be  the  predominant  feature  of 
his  Order.  The  members  of  the  institute,  in  addition 
to  being  deeply  spiritual  men,  given  to  prayer,  study 
and  contemplation,  are  to  be  men  actively  engaged  in 
the  restoration  of  all  things  in  Christ.  By  prayer  and 
meditation,  choral  exercises  and  observance  of  the  rule 
they  are  to  sanctify  themselves;  by  long  serious  study 
they  are  to  become  profoundly  learned  in  sacred 


68  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

science.  All  this  is  to  be  done  in  the  quiet  solitude  of 
the  cloister;  all  is  to  be  a  means  to  an  end,  a  prepara- 
tion for  the  real  work  of  the  Order — salvation  of  souls. 
The  brethren,  when  thus  duly  prepared,  are  to  go 
forth  to  instruct  the  people  by  both  word  and  example ; 
to  teach  and  preach  the  great  truths  which  they  them- 
selves have  already  learned  through  hard,  prolonged 
study  in  the  solitude  of  their  cells. 

Such,  in  fact,  was  the  life  led  by  Saint  Dominic  him- 
self; such  the  gradation  he  established  in  his  Order. 
The  spirit  and  end  of  the  institute  have  found  expres- 
sion in  its  canonical  title :  "  Order  of  Preachers " ;  in 
the  motto  of  its  escutcheon:  "Laudare,  Benedicere, 
Praedicare"  (To  Praise,  To  Bless  and  To  Preach) ;  in 
the  letters  patent  of  Honorius  III  to  Saint  Dominic, 
confirming  the  Order  and  determining  its  special  voca- 
tion: "Expecting  the  brethren  of  your  Order  to  be 
champions  of  the  Faith  and  true  lights  of  the  world, 
We  confirm  your  Order.  .  .  ."  The  same  pontiff,  in 
a  second  letter  to  the  saint  (written,  it  is  said,  at  the 
request  of  Dominic  himself),  practically  gives  the 
Order  its  title  in  these  words:  "Honorius,  Bishop  and 
Servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  our  dearly  beloved 
sons  the  Prior  and  the  Brethren  of  Saint  Romanus, 
Preachers  in  the  country  about  Toulouse.  .  .  ."  In 
language  yet  more  explicit,  the  constitutions  of  the 
Friars  Preacher  tell  us:  ".  .  .  Our  Order  was  insti- 
tuted principally  for  preaching  and  for  the  salvation 
of  souls;  and  our  main  efforts  should  be  put  forth, 
earnestly  and  ardently,  in  doing  good  to  the  souls  of 
our  fellow  men.  ..."  They  emphatically  declare  that 
the  Order  of  Preachers  "was  established  from  its  be- 
ginning principally,  essentially  and  expressly  for  teach- 


YOUNG  PRIEST  AND  MASTER  OF  NOVICES.     69 

ing  and  preaching,  for  giving  to  others  the  fruits  of 
study  and  contemplation,  and  for  the  salvation  of 
souls.'* 

Thus  we  see  that  the  great  end  which  Saint  Dominic 
held  out  to  his  brethren  is  the  salvation  of  souls.  The 
special  means  to  this  end  are  preaching  and  teaching. 
This  aim  of  the  institute,  in  short,  has  determined  or 
regulated  much  of  its  legislation.  Perhaps  no  law 
has  been  more  strongly  insisted  upon  than  that  which 
requires  the  brethren  to  employ  in  serious  study  the 
time  not  given  to  the  active  ministry  or  to  the  school, 
that  their  labors  may  become  more  and  more  fruitful. 
To  give  the  priests  more  leisure  for  such  a  preparation 
for  the  apostolate  of  Christian  truth,  manual  labor  was 
suppressed  at  a  very  early  date  among  the  clerics, 
and  relegated  to  the  lay  brothers.  The  Order  of 
Preachers  was  the  first  to  take  such  a  step.  Again, 
that  the  learned  element  might  predominate  in  the 
Order,  to  preserve  its  prestige  and  high  standard  of 
learning,  the  number  of  lay  brothers  was  limited  to 
the  needs  of  each  house. 

Preaching  and  teaching,  then,  or  the  diffusion  of 
Christian  doctrine,  whether  from  the  public  rostrum 
or  from  the  scholastic  chair,  should  be  the  dominant 
feature  in  the  life  of  the  Friar  Preacher.  His  voca- 
tion demands  that  he  spread  sound  doctrine  in  all  its 
phases;  that  he  devote  his  energies  to  preaching  in  all 
its  varied  forms — plainly  to  the  plain,  learnedly  to  the 
learned,  to  all  in  the  way  best  adapted  to  their  needs; 
that  he  defend  the  Catholic  faith  and  uphold  the 
Church  in  season  and  out  of  season;  that  he  labor  to 
bring  the  strayed  back  into  the  fold,  to  convince  and 


70  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

convert  the  unbeliever,  to  make  the  good  better,  to 
instruct  the  untutored  and  to  advance  the  enlightened 
still  more  in  the  knowledge  of  God.  A  Dominican, 
therefore,  must  not  rest  content  with  an  ordinary  ac- 
quaintance with  the  simple  elements  of  Catholic  teach- 
ing. He  must  be  well  grounded  in  philosophy;  he 
must  possess  a  deep  knowledge  of  theology;  he  must 
be  versed  in  the  Scriptures  and  ecclesiastical  history. 
All  this  was  foreseen  in  the  early  days  of  the  Order, 
and  to  meet  these  needs  effective  means  were  provided 
in  its  long  course  of  ecclesiastical  studies. 

Yet  in  the  background  of  this  active  apostolate  for 
souls  the  spirit  of  the  contemplative  life  and  conven- 
tual observance  must  not  only  be  fostered,  but  kept 
keenly  alive.  The  practice  of  the  virtues  of  the  cloister 
is  necessary  to  impart  life,  tone  and  fruit  to  the  friar's 
apostolic  work.  Contemplation  is  the  source  at  which 
the  apostolate  must  be  nourished.  As,  therefore,  it  is 
a  serious  error  to  lose  sight  of  the  active  side  of  the 
Order,  or  to  consider  it  as  something  exceptional  or 
merely  accidental  and  less  perfect  than  contemplation; 
so  it  is  a  no  less  serious  mistake  to  imagine  that  one 
can,  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  institute,  give 
oneself  up  to  a  feverish  activity,  forgetting  contempla- 
tion and  conventual  observances.  As  the  Order  is  con- 
secrated to  salvation  of  souls  through  an  earnest  apos- 
tolate, but  withal  through  those  virtues  that  are  born 
and  bred  within  cloistered  walls — whence  the  brethren 
should  come  forth  for  their  ministry,  as  Christ  from 
Nazareth, — prayer  and  meditation,  preaching  and 
zealous  external  activity,  must  go  hand  in  hand  in  the 
exercise  of  its  vocation.  Yet,  if  either  feature  of  its 


YOUNG  PRIEST  AND  MASTER  OF  NOVICES.     71 

life  has  at  times  to  be  sacrificed,  it  must  be  the  contem- 
plative rather  than  the  active.5 

Admittedly,  one  of  the  best  exponents  of  this  twofold 
life  of  a  Dominican  the  Order  has  had  in  the  past 
century,  was  the  illustrious  Frenchman,  Pere  Lacor- 
daire.  By  a  happy  combination  of  these  two  elements, 
together  with  his  own  magnetic  personality,  he  re- 
stored the  Order  of  Preachers  in  his  native  country, 
fifty  years  after  it  had  been  destroyed  by  the  French 
Revolution,  in  a  manner  almost  as  phenomenal  as  was 
its  foundation  by  the  high-minded  Saint  Dominic  more 
than  six  hundred  years  before.  But  the  French  are 
often  prone  to  extremes.  Thus,  even  in  the  lifetime 
of  the  great  orator  and  restorer,  and  while  he  still  held 
the  reins  of  authority — nay,  from  the  very  beginning 
of  his  work  of  restoration, — we  find  a  number  of  his 
confreres,  under  the  leadership  of  Pere  Jandel,  later 
General  of  the  Order,  advocating  that  the  fathers  in 
France  should  lead  a  life  so  contemplative  as  to  mini- 
mize the  active  apostolate  which  in  reality  should  be 
the  dominant  feature  of  the  life  of  a  Friar  Preacher. 
After  the  appointment  of  Father  Jandel  as  Master 
General  of  the  Order  the  movement  led  to  the  division 

5  The  reader  who  may  desire  a  fuller  information  on  the  spirit  and  the 
twofold  life  of  Saint  Dominic's  Order  is  referred  to  Constitutions  S. 
Ordinis  Praedicatorum,  pp.  11-86  (Paris,  1886) ;  QU^TIF-ECHABD,  Scrip- 
tores  Ordinis  Praedicatorum,  Vol.  I,  pp.  11  ff.  (Paris,  1719)  ;  HUMBERT-IS  DE 
ROMANIS,  De  Vita  Regulari  (Berthier  edition,  Rome,  1889),  two  vols.  passim; 
Mother  Francis  Raphael  Drane's  two  beautiful  lives  of  Saint  Dominic; 
POPE,  op.  cit.;  O'CONNOR,  Saint  Dominic  and  the  Order  of  Preachers,  1916; 
O'DAXIEL,  The  Friars  Preacher,  A  Seventh  Centenary  Sketch,  1917;  The 
Catholic  Encyclopedia  (Knights  of  Columbus  edition),  Vol.  XII,  pp.  354  ff. 
— article  Order  of  Preachers,  by  P.  Mandonnet.  Father  Mandonnet's  article 
is  a  masterly  analysis  of  the  genius  and  the  spirit  of  the  Dominican  life; 
while  The  Friars  Preacher,  A  Seventh  Centenary  Sketch,  gives  an  English 
rendition  of  the  two  bulls  of  the  Order's  confirmation  and  the  letter  of 
Honorius  III  referred  to  in  this  chapter. 


72  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

of  the  newly  re-established  French  Dominicans  into 
two  provinces,  one  of  which  was  called  the  Province 
of  France,  or  Paris,  following  the  principles  of  Lacor- 
daire;  while  the  other,  known  as  the  Province  of 
Lyons,  was  given  over  to  the  ideals  of  the  ultra-con- 
templatives.6 

At  the  time  of  the  entrance  into  the  Order  of  Father 
Alphonsus  Bernard  Chocarne,  of  whom  mention  has 
been  made,  Pere  Lacordaire  was  still  superior  of  all 
the  Dominicans  in  France.  Becoming  imbued  with  the 
ideas  of  the  saintly  restorer,  the  young  priest  espoused 
the  cause  of  those  who  stood  for  the  broader  and  more 
complete  Dominican  life.  Chocarne's  strong  sympa- 
thies with  Lacordaire's  principles,  in  fact,  led  to  his 
temporary  departure  from  France  and  his  attachment, 
in  1866,  to  the  Province  of  Saint  Joseph  in  the  United 
States,  where  he  formed  an  intimate  friendship  with 
the  subject  of  our  biography.  The  two  friends  fre- 
quently discussed  at  length  the  questions  that  then 
divided  the  fathers  in  France — the  life,  labors  and 
principles  of  Lacordaire,  the  true  ideals  of  the  Order 
and  its  place  in  the  Church,  its  prospects  and  the  course 
best  suited  to  develop  it  in  the  New  World.7 

In  the  summer  of  1865,  the  Very  Rev.  William 
Dominic  O'Carroll,  an  Irish  Dominican,  had  been  sent 
to  America  as  provincial  of  the  Province  of  Saint 
Joseph.  Father  O'Carroll  had  studied  in  France, 
where,  unlike  Chocarne,  he  had  unconsciously  imbibed 

•  FOISSET,  Vie  du  R.  P.  Lacordaire,  Paris,  1870,  Vol.  II,  pp.  303-355;  A 
Dominican  Artist  (Pere  Besson),  Philadelphia,  1870,  pp.  206-237. 

i  OuuvizR,  Le  Pere  Chocarne,  Paris,  1900,  pp.  92  ff.,  touches  slightly  on 
the  cause  that  led  to  Father  Chocarne's  coming  to  the  United  States;  while 
FOISSET,  op.  cit.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  345  ff.,  throws  light  on  Chocarne's  relations 
with  Lacordaire.  But  our  principal  knowledge  of  these  facts  was  derived 
from  Father  McKenna,  who  received  them  from  Chocarne. 


YOUNG  PRIEST  AND  MASTER  OF  NOVICES.     73 

the  ideas  of  Father  Jandel.  These  ideas  he  sought 
to  propagate  in  the  United  States.  Nay,  he  seems  to 
have  been  sent  to  America  for  that  purpose.  But 
from  the  foundation  of  their  province  the  American 
fathers  had  followed,  as  best  they  could,  considering 
their  means  and  numbers  and  the  circumstances  of  the 
country,  the  broader  and  fuller  life  of  the  Order  so 
strongly  upheld  by  Lacordaire.  This  mode  of  life 
they  had  inherited  from  the  English  province,  whence 
the  first  fathers  had  come  to  the  United  States;  and 
they  were  quite  loath  to  exchange  it  for  that  advo- 
cated by  O'Carroll,  which  they  felt  would  irreparably 
cripple  the  Order's  efforts  for  good  in  the  great  Amer- 
ican republic,  where,  if  in  any  place  in  the  world,  ac- 
tivity is  demanded  of  those  who  would  succeed.  It  is 
not  surprising,  therefore,  that  the  province  as  a  unit 
did  not  take  kindly  to  the  Irish  provincial's  opinions 
or  method;  or  that,  on  the  expiration  of  his  term  of 
office,  they  were  suffered  to  die  a  speedy  death.8 

This  divergence  of  ideas,  as  might  naturally  be  ex- 
pected from  the  frailty  of  human  nature,  led  to  occa- 
sional manifestations  of  temper  and  breaches  of  char- 
ity. These,  however,  came  from  the  foreign  rather 
than  from  the  home  members  concerned  in  the  con- 
troversy. The  misunderstanding  offers  no  occasion 

8  Both  Fathers  Jandel  and  O'Carroll  were  excellent  religious,  and  men 
of  strong  convictions  and  unblemished  characters.  Both  were  severe  almost 
to  a  fault  and  unduly  given  to  the  contemplative  and  conventual  side  of 
the  Order's  life  to  the  detriment  of  the  apostolic  or  active  side,  which,  how- 
ever, after  the  period  of  formation,  should  hold  the  first  place.  Neither, 
as  is  evident  from  their  letters,  understood  the  genius  of  the  American 
republic,  or  were  in  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  its  people.  O'Carroll 
admits  this,  in  one  of  his  letters,  as  regards  himself.  Yet  his  stay  of  four 
years  in  the  United  States  gave  him  such  a  liking  for  the  active  life  that 
he  offered  himself  for  the  mission  of  Trinidad,  where  he  died  auxiliary 
bishop. 


74  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

for  scandal  or  surprise.  It  arose  from  a  difference  of 
opinion  on  principles  and  methods  between  men 
equally  desirous  of  God's  glory  and  the  welfare  of  the 
Dominican  Order,  but  taking  diverse  views  of  the 
manner  of  attaining  these  ends.  As  long  as  human 
nature  remains,  such  disagreements  will  arise  from 
time  to  time,  and  cause  a  ripple  on  the  surface  in  the 
best  regulated  societies  and  communities.  They  are 
all  the  more  apt  to  arise  when,  as  in  the  present  in- 
stance, men  of  different  nationalities,  and  consequently 
of  different  customs  and  habits  of  thought,  are  thrown 
together,  and  when  the  law  itself  gives  play  to  gen- 
erous impulses  in  opposite  directions.  While  we  have 
not  hesitated  to  state  the  American  province's  posi- 
tion in  the  controversy  and  to  give  the  reasons  for  its 
stand,  this  episode  has  been  inserted  in  our  biography 
— as  we  felt  it  must  be — merely  to  show  the  influences 
that  were  brought  to  bear  on  Father  McKenna  at 
this  early  period  of  his  priestly  life.  His  conduct  at 
that  time  throws  much  light  on  his  staunch  character. 

Because  of  the  young  priest's  deep  piety  and  spirit 
of  mortification,  it  was  thought  by  the  provincial  that 
he  would  be  disposed  to  espouse  the  views  held  by  the 
fathers  of  Lyons  and  to  aid  in  their  propagation  in 
America.  This  idea,  in  fact,  had  its  part  in  Father 
McKenna's  appointment  to  the  position  of  master  of 
novices,  since  it  was  hoped  he  would  find  in  the  plastic 
minds  of  the  young  men  under  his  charge  a  suitable 
field  for  such  a  propaganda. 

But,  what  with  his  study  of  the  traditions  of  the 
Order,  both  in  the  Old  World  and  the  New,  and  of 
the  lives  and  ideals  of  its  founder  and  its  saints — and 
what  with  his  sympathies  for  the  principles  which 


YOUNG  PRIEST  AND  MASTER  OF  NOVICES.     75 

Lacordaire  had  advocated  and  his  own  province  had 
long  followed  in  America,  the  future  missionary  was 
convinced  that  a  happy  combination  of  the  contempla- 
tive life  with  a  zealous  apostolate  for  souls  was  the 
complete  and  normal  life  of  a  Friar  Preacher,  as  well 
as  one  eminently  suited  to  the  American  Church  and 
people.  The  boundless  good  for  souls  that  resulted 
from  the  efforts  of  the  fathers  in  the  missionary  field 
was  an  additional  argument  in  favor  of  this  view.  All 
this,  he  felt,  was  doomed  to  be  destroyed  if  the  province 
ever  accepted  the  proposed  change  in  its  mode  of  life. 
Thus  the  young  priest's  position  as  master  of  novices 
was  a  delicate  one,  requiring  great  tact  and  prudence. 
As  he  lacked  the  age  and  experience  necessary  to  give 
weight  to  his  opinions,  he  wisely  refrained  from  taking 
part  in  the  discussion,  although  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
say  that  he  strongly  favored  the  ideals  of  Lacordaire, 
which  he  believed  to  be  those  of  Saint  Dominic.  Con- 
tinuing his  study  of  the  Order's  spirit  and  genius, 
Father  McKenna  became  still  more  firmly  strength- 
ened in  his  conviction  that  its  life  should  be  eminently 
active.  With  characteristic  candor,  yet  with  humility, 
he  spoke  his  mind  to  his  superior,  and  his  honesty  and 
fair-mindedness  so  won  Father  O'Carroll's  confidence 
that  he  was  left  to  train  the  young  men  practically  ac- 
cording to  his  own  ideas — a  circumstance  that  did 
much  to  preserve  the  province's  traditions,  and  even  to 
broaden  and  intensify  its  apostolic  zeal.  The  ex- 
perience was  one  that  helped  greatly  to  strengthen  and 
round  out  the  holy  man's  character,  to  make  him  a 
zealous  minister  of  God  and  a  true  Dominican.  It 
stood  him  in  good  stead  in  his  future  life  as  a  mis- 
sioner  and  gleaner  of  souls. 


76  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

It  is  a  bold  metaphor,  yet  we  think  it  no  exaggeration, 
to  liken  the  love  of  the  pious  master  of  novices  for  the 
young  men  under  his  charge  to  that  of  a  mother  for 
her  first-born.  With  all  his  zeal  and  energy  he  strove 
to  advance  them  in  the  paths  of  knowledge  and  sanc- 
tity, to  form  them  into  good  religious,  to  make  them 
useful  ministers  of  the  Church,  to  drill  them  in  the  full 
and  complete  ideal  of  the  Dominican  life.  That  he  might 
give  them  his  whole  time  and  soul,  he  soon  resigned  the 
positions  of  subprior  of  the  convent  and  confessor  to 
Saint  Catherine's. 

Although  Father  McKenna  realized  that  he  could 
accomplish  much  for  his  Order  as  master  of  novices, 
it  was  not  a  position  to  his  liking,  for  he  instinctively 
shunned  the  responsibility  of  office.  He  was  con- 
vinced, too,  that  his  calling  lay  elsewhere — on  the  mis- 
sions; and  he  was  anxious  to  be  assigned  to  these. 
For  this  work,  so  eminently  Dominican  and  so  fruitful 
in  good,  he  had  felt  a  strong  impulse  from  the  days  of 
his  novitiate.  He  prayed  God  that  it  might  be  given 
him.  That  he  might  be  ripe  for  the  call,  should  his 
prayer  be  heard,  he  devoted  the  moments  he  could 
snatch  from  his  many  duties  to  preparation  for  the 
arduous  labors  of  a  missioner.  But  the  outlook  was 
far  from  promising.  While  he  was  zealous,  his  health 
was  precarious.  His  voice  was  good,  but  he  had  not 
learned  to  use  it  to  advantage.  Neither  in  the  sermons 
he  had  preached  as  a  student  nor  in  those  of  the  first 
two  years  of  his  priesthood,  had  he  given  any  proofs  of 
the  extraordinary  oratorical  powers  with  which  he  was 
gifted.  His  diffidence  argued  against  rather  than  in 
favor  of  success  in  the  work  he  so  desired  to  perform. 

As  in  the  life  of  more  than  one   great  man  the 


REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA  AT  ORDINATION. 


YOUNG  PRIEST  AND  MASTER  OF  NOVICES.     77 

merest  accident  has  revealed  to  an  unsuspecting  world 
powers  that  had  not  so  much  as  been  dreamed  of,  so 
it  was  with  our  Friar  Preacher.  Brother  John  Bene- 
dict McLaughlin,  a  brilliant  and  exemplary  clerical 
novice  of  whose  future  he  had  expected  much,  died  in 
October,  1869.  Father  McKenna,  as  master  of  nov- 
ices, was  deputed  to  preach  the  funeral  oration.  A 
father's  love  for  his  son  appealed  to  and  drew  forth 
the  best  that  was  in  the  good  priest's  heart.  The 
sermon  was  a  masterpiece.  Gratified,  yet  surprised, 
the  community  saw  that  a  man  of  rare  gifts  had  risen 
among  them — a  man  who,  if  his  health  were  spared, 
was  destined  to  become  a  pulpit  orator  of  note. 

In  the  midst  of  these  busy  days  occurred  what  the 
distinguished  Dominican  ever  afterwards  called  the 
saddest  event  of  his  life.  On  June  10,  1870,  his  much 
loved  mother  died.  Father  McKenna's  anguish  of 
soul  was  all  the  greater  because  he  was  unable  to  be  with* 
her  in  her  last  hours.  In  those  times  of  direst  poverty 
the  fathers  travelled  but  seldom,  except  on  business  or 
in  cases  of  positive  necessity.  The  writer  has  fre- 
quently heard  the  good  priest  say  that  when  his  mother 
died  there  was  scarcely  enough  money  in  the  convent 
of  Saint  Rose  to  pay  his  fare  to  Louisville,  sixty  miles 
away.  To  the  day  of  his  death  he  never  ceased  to 
regret  his  inability  to  see  his  dying  parent  or  to  be 
present  at  her  funeral.  But,  like  a  good  religious,  he 
bore  the  heavy  cross  with  admirable  courage  and  doubt- 
less with  great  spiritual  profit. 

About  the  time  of  his  mother's  death  Father  Mc- 
Kenna, to  his  great  delight,  was  released  from  the 
position  of  master  of  novices  and  told  to  get  ready  for 
the  missions.  This  change  was  in  great  measure  due 


78  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

to  the  outburst  of  eloquence  over  the  remains  of  his 
cherished  novice,  Brother  John  B.  McLaughlin.  Now 
the  zealous  young  friar's  experience  in  the  spiritual 
guidance  of  the  novices  and  the  sisters  of  Saint  Cath- 
erine's was  soon  to  be  of  great  value  to  him  in  the 
direction  of  souls  living  in  the  world.  To  give  him 
more  confidence  and  practice  in  preaching,  he  was  ap- 
pointed pastor  of  Saint  Dominic's  Church  in  the  little 
town  of  Springfield,  about  two  miles  from  Saint  Rose's 
Priory.  In  this  new  sphere  he  displayed  the  same 
zeal  that  he  had  shown  in  previous  charges.  The 
success  of  the  sermon  of  which  we  have  spoken  had 
inspired  him  with  confidence,  and  he  soon  gained  a 
local  reputation  as  a  preacher.  To  this  day  his  mem- 
ory is  cherished  and  his  sermons  spoken  of  by  the  old 
people  of  the  Springfield  and  Saint  Rose's  congre- 
gations. 


CHAPTER     VII. 

EARLY  MISSIONS— SAINT  VINCENT  FERRER'S, 
NEW  YORK. 

(1866-1870) 

As  has  been  said,  the  history  or  the  biography  that 
gives  but  the  bare  framework  of  its  subject  without 
making  clear  the  conditions  and  influences  which  im- 
part to  it  life  and  color,  must  necessarily  lack  attrac- 
tiveness to  the  general  reader.  For  this  reason,  we 
shall  again  interrupt  our  narrative  to  give  a  brief 
account  of  the  beginnings  of  the  missionary  labors  of 
the  Dominican  fathers  in  the  east  and  of  the  founda- 
tion of  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's  Priory,  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  as  a  setting  to  Father  McKenna's  long 
years  of  fruitful  work  in  the  same  part  of  the  country. 

From  what  has  been  said  in  the  preceding  chapter,  it 
follows  that  the  work  of  the  missions — whether  we  use 
the  term  to  signify  the  activities  of  the  Church  in 
spreading  religious  doctrine  and  the  light  of  the  Gospel 
at  home  or  among  pagan  peoples  abroad;  or  whether 
we  accept  it  in  the  more  restricted  sense  of  parochial 
missions,  that  is,  special  courses  of  instruction  and  de- 
votions designed  to  quicken  the  faith  and  religious 
practices  of  a  parish,  to  convert  sinners,  and  to  bring 
unbelievers  into  the  fold — falls  well  within  the  specific 
sphere  of  the  Friar  Preacher's  labor. 

From  the  institution  of  the  Order  to  the  present 
day  the  work  of  sowing  the  seed  of  the  Gospel  among 
the  ethnic  nations,  of  bringing  back  deserters  from  the 

79 


80  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

faith,  of  converting  the  sinner,  and  of  vivifying  the 
slackening  religion  of  Catholics,  has  been  kept  well  to 
the  forefront  of  Dominican  life.  To  this  manifold 
apostolate  is  largely  ordained  the  long,  serious  course 
of  studies  to  which  the  young  men  of  the  institute  are 
subjected.  Every  legitimate  means  of  preaching  and 
teaching  Christ  crucified  has  been  sedulously  employed 
by  the  sons  of  Saint  Dominic,  that  thereby  souls  might 
be  brought  to  God.  Whether,  as  a  Saint  Hyacinth,  a 
Blessed  Ceslas  or  a  Venerable  Paul  in  Poland,  Rus- 
sia or  Hungary,  as  a  Francis  Cendra  in  Africa,  or  a 
Las  Casas,  a  Louis  Cancer,  an  Anthony  de  Monte- 
sinos  and  scores  of  others  in  Latin  America,  a  Fen- 
wick,  a  Young  or  a  Mazzuchelli  in  the  United  States, 
they  strove  by  prayer,  catechetical  instruction  and 
persuasive  unction  to  bring  untutored  and  savage  tribes 
into  the  fold  of  Christ ;  whether,  as  a  Thomas  of  Aquin, 
an  Albert  the  Great,  or  a  Raymond  Martini,  they 
sought  by  profound  treatises  to  instruct  even  the 
learned,  or  to  convert  the  infidel ;  whether,  as  a  Vincent 
Ferrer,  a  Jordan  of  Saxony,  or  a  Humbert  de  Ro- 
manis,  they  endeavored  by  fiery  appeals  and  burning 
eloquence  to  arouse  the  sinner  to  a  sense  of  his  degra- 
dation and  to  repentance;  or  whether,  as  a  Lacordaire, 
a  Monsabre,  or  a  "  Tom "  Burke,  they  poured  out 
their  matchless  oratory  to  restore  the  birthright  of 
faith  to  those  who  had  lost  it,  to  uphold  the  honor  of 
the  Church,  or  to  quicken  the  religious  practices  of 
Catholics — their  purpose  has  ever  been  the  same,  the 
honor  and  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls. 
Owing  to  the  scarcity  of  priests  in  the  first  years  of  the 
Order's  establishment  in  the  United  States,  the  fathers 
were  obliged  to  travel  incessantly  from  place  to  place 


EARLY  MISSIONS.  81 

to  attend  the  widely  scattered  flocks  under  their  charge. 
Their  labor  was  principally  that  of  keeping  alive  the 
spark  of  faith  in  wide  areas  where  there  were  but  few 
clergymen  to  administer  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  the 
people.  They  were  missionaries  in  the  wider  sense  of 
the  word.  They  had  not  the  leisure  to  "give  mis- 
sions," to  use  our  more  modern  term;  that  is,  to  devote 
a  week  or  more  to  special  religious  exercises  for  the 
reviving  of  the  flagging  religious  spirit  of  one  congre- 
gation. Yet  we  find  them  at  an  early  period  con- 
ducting short  missions — or  retreats,  as  they  were  then 
called.  As  far  back  as  the  twenties  of  the  last  century, 
Bishop  Fenwick  and  his  corps  of  five  or  six  fathers  of 
the  Order  did  this  kind  of  work  with  much  success, 
even  among  non-Catholics,  in  Ohio. 

It  was  not  until  the  second  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  as  far  as  the  writer  has  been  able  to  ascer- 
tain, that  any  religious  order  in  the  country  entered 
into  the  missionary  field,  or  upon  the  work  of  special 
spiritual  revivals,  with  systematic  and  organized  effort. 
The  Friars  Preacher  were  among  the  first.  Founded 
and  settled  in  remote  and  sparsely  inhabited  rural  dis- 
tricts of  Kentucky,  Ohio  and  Wisconsin,  and  far  re- 
moved from  the  great  centers  of  population,  the  growth 
of  their  institute  in  the  beginning  was  necessarily  slow. 
Its  colleges,  novitiates  and  extensive  country  parishes 
taxed  all  its  resources.  But  in  the  late  fifties  and  early 
sixties  we  find  frequent  mention  of  the  fathers  giving 
spiritual  exercises  or  retreats — really,  short  missions— 
in  many  parts  of  the  mid-west.  They  did  the  same  at 
places  in  the  vicinity  of  their  house  in  the  National 
Capital. 

Although  the  Civil  War  necessitated  the  temporary 


82  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

suspension  of  Saint  Joseph's  College,  in  Ohio — the 
greater  number  of  its  students  being  from  the  south 
— the  fathers  intended  reopening  it  as  soon  as  the 
bloody  struggle  should  come  to  an  end.  In  the  mean- 
time Father  William  D.  O'Carroll,  of  whom  mention 
has  been  made,  arrived  in  America  as  provincial. 
Much  to  the  regret  of  the  province,  Father  O'Carroll 
set  himself  against  colleges  as  opposed  to  his  ultra- 
contemplative  idea  of  the  religious  life.  He  therefore 
closed  also  the  college  of  Sinsinawa  Mound,  in  Wis- 
consin, and  disposed  of  the  property.  As  the  provin- 
cial's action  put  an  end  to  educational  work  for  the 
time  being,  the  fathers  of  the  province  became  anxious 
to  engage  more  extensively  in  the  missionary  field 
which  had  begun  to  attract  much  attention  and  to  be 
the  means  of  great  good  for  the  Church  in  the  east. 

At  this  juncture — in  the  spring  of  1866 — Father 
Hugh  P.  Ralph  preached  in  several  of  the  churches 
in  the  city  of  New  York,  creating  such  an  impression 
that  Rev.  Thomas  Treanor,  pastor  of  the  Church  of 
the  Transfiguration,  requested  the  Dominicans  to  give 
his  congregation  a  mission  in  the  ensuing  fall.  The 
mission  at  the  Church  of  the  Transfiguration,  which 
was  their  first  in  the  great  metropolis,  opened  on  No- 
vember 11,  1866,  and  gave  the  fathers  a  reputation  in 
the  east  as  eloquent  preachers  and  zealous  mission- 
aries. At  the  end  of  the  first  week,  just  when  it  had 
got  well  into  swing,  the  editor  of  the  Freeman's  Jour- 
nal tells  us: 

"  The  Rev.  Father  Treanor,  Pastor  of  Transfiguration 
Church,  has  called  the  Very  Rev.  G.  A.  J.  Wilson,  O.  P.,  with 
eight  or  ten  other  Dominican  priests,  to  give  a  mission  in  that 
church.  It  was  opened  on  last  Sunday,  and  is  to  continue  so 


EARLY  MISSIONS.  83 

long  as  the  church  will  remain  filled  at  the  public  exercises ;  and 
so  long  as  the  confessionals  are  thronged.  So,  at  least,  we  un- 
derstand. If  so,  we  apprehend  that,  for  a  length  of  time  at 
least,  this  will  be  the  most  remarkable  mission  ever  given  on  the 
continent  of  America.  Now,  at  length,  the  challenge  seems  to 
be  given  to  the  Catholics  of  New  York,  that  as  many  as  may  wish 
may  go  to  confession — ,  by  going  to 'Transfiguration  Church, 
near  the  foot  of  the  Bowery.  We  hope  the  mission  may  continue 
till  Christmas  at  least."1 

As  the  editor  of  the  Freeman's  Journal  anticipated, 
the  mission  was  a  pronounced  success;  it  even  caused 
something  of  a  sensation  in  the  great  metropolis. 
People  came  to  it  not  only  from  all  parts  of  New 
York,  but  also  from  the  neighboring  cities.  A  later 
issue  of  the  same  paper  gives  us  this  further  news  of 
its  success: 

"  During  its  progress,  we  adverted  repeatedly  to  the  remark- 
able '  Mission '  exercises  given  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Order  of 
St.  Dominic,  towards  the  close  of  last  year,  at  the  Church  of  the 
Transfiguration,  in  this  city,  of  which  the  Rev.  Thomas  Treanor 
is  the  honored  Pastor.  The  Mission  lasted  for  three  weeks,  or  a 
little  more,  and  the  good  it  did  abundantly  consoled  the  Pastor 
for  his  efforts  and  his  labors.  During  all  the  time  there  were 
six,  and  during  a  large  part  of  it  nine,  Dominican  Fathers  as- 
sisting. These  sat  in  the  confessional,  on  an  average,  ten  hours 
a  day,  besides  giving  the  sermons,  instructions,  meditations,  &c. 
What  would  otherwise  appear  incredible  may,  therefore,  be  un- 
derstood, that  these  Fathers  heard  over  sixteen  thousand  con- 
fessions during  the  Mission !  ...  As  to  the  fruits  that  Father 
Treanor  has  drawn  from  this  Mission,  for  his  parish,  we  notice, 
among  other  things,  that  the  increased  throng  of  worshippers 
has  led  him  to  provide  a  very  large  succursal  chapel  under  his 
church.  .  .  .  The  old  vaulted  basement  has  been  torn  down,  and 

i  Freeman' '»  Journal,  November  17,  1866. 


84  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

a  chapel,  airy  and  more  spacious  than  the  church  above,  is  in 
process  of  construction.  .  .  ."2 

The  report  of  the  marvelous  success  of  this  mission 
spread  rapidly,  leading  at  once  to  requests  for  others 
both  in  and  out  of  the  city  of  New  York.  Before  its 
close,  the  saintly  Father  James  D.  Taaffe,  an  Irish 
Dominican  missionary  apostolic  of  Lawrence,  Massa- 
chusetts, came  to  secure  a  mission  for  the  February  of 
the  following  year.  So  also  the  Rev.  John  T.  McDon- 
nell of  Haverhill,  in  the  same  state,  another  zealous 
Irish  missionary  apostolic  of  the  Order  of  Saint  Dom- 
inic, asked  for  one  in  his  church  of  Saint  Gregory  im- 
mediately succeeding  that  of  Father  Taaffe. 

The  mission  at  the  Church  of  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion, Lawrence,  opened  on  February  10,  1867,  and 
closed  on  March  3.  That  at  Saint  Gregory's,  Haver- 
hill,  began  on  March  10  and  lasted  for  one  week.  As 
they  had  done  in  New  York,  so  in  both  these  places 
the  fathers  aroused  great  enthusiasm,  though  they 
labored  in  the  heart  of  Puritan  Massachusetts.  The 
Lawrence  Sentinel,  as  quoted  by  the  Freeman's  Jour- 
nal of  March  16,  1867,  shows  how  the  people  of  that 
city  gathered  at  the  church  "as  early  as  three  or  four 
o'clock  in  the  morning"  to  be  present  at  the  exercises 
of  the  mission.  The  priests  were  pronounced  the  best 
pulpit  orators  ever  heard  in  Lawrence;  the  mission 
was  attended  not  only  from  all  parts  of  northeastern 
Massachusetts,  but  from  southern  New  Hampshire  and 
even  from  as  far  as  Maine. 

The  results  of  the  fathers'  efforts  at  Haverhill  were 
not  less  satisfactory  than  those  at  Lawrence.  In  both 
places  confessions  were  heard  from  five  o'clock  in  the 

.,  February  16,  1867. 


EAKLY  MISSIONS.  85 

morning  until  eleven  at  night,  the  church  was  crowded 
all  day  long,  and  the  sermons  were  attended  by 
large  numbers  of  non- Catholics,  many  of  whom  were 
induced  to  embrace  the  faith.  But  in  this  last  con- 
nection the  Rev.  Canon  Walsh,  then  pastor  at  Exeter, 
New  Hampshire,  writes:  "the  fathers  made  a  very 
good,  and,  I  think,  a  very  wise  rule,  never  to  receive 
into  the  Church  any  converts  during  the  Missions; 
but  merely  leave  them  time  to  reflect  upon  the  im- 
portant steps  they  are  going  to  take.  They  are  left  in 
good  training  order  till  the  pastor  deems  them  worthy 
to  have  the  salutary  waters  of  regeneration  poured  on 
their  devoted  heads."8 

The  missions  in  Massachusetts  were  followed  in 
quick  succession  by  others  in  and  around  the  city  of 
New  York.  By  far  the  most  noteworthy  of  these  was 
that  given  in  the  May  of  the  same  year  at  the  Church 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  New  York,  then  under 
the  pastorship  of  the  Rev.  William  Plowden  Morrogh, 
D.D.  It  continued  for  three  weeks,  and  in  point  of 
attendance  and  the  number  of  persons  approaching  the 
sacraments  far  surpassed  any  previously  given,  twenty 
eight  thousand  confessions  being  heard.  During  its 
second  week,  the  Freeman's  Journal  of  April  20,  1867, 
under  the  caption  of  "  The  Dominicans  in  New  York," 
thus  describes  this  mission: 

"The  Rev.  Fathers  of  the  Order  of  St.  Dominic  are  giving 
one  of  their  grandest  Missions  at  the  Church  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception,  in  fourteenth  street.  There  are  ten  of  these  Do- 
minican Priests  hearing  confessions  all  day  long.  Besides  this, 
six  or  seven  other  Priests  have  lent  their  assistance  in  the  same 
way.  It  is  a  grand  sight  to  behold  the  church  and  its  chapel  all 

s  Ibid.,  April  6,  1867. 


86  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

tented  with  confessionals.  Instructions  are  given  at  different 
hours,  and  at  the  same  time  in  different  places.  Thus,  last  week, 
while  sermons  were  preaching  to  men  only  in  the  church,  some 
eighteen  hundred  factory  girls  were  gathered  in  the  chapel,  lis- 
tening to  sermons  by  another  of  the  Fathers.  .  .  ." 

The  reports  spread  broadcast  of  the  great  results 
of  the  fathers'  first  missions  in  the  east,  reaching  the 
ears  of  the  provincial,  induced  him  to  go  to  New  York 
to  make  a  personal  inspection  of  their  labors  at  the 
Church  of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  He  wished  to 
see  his  brethren  at  work  and  to  witness  a  practical 
demonstration  of  the  fruitfulness  of  apostolic  activities 
of  which  he  had  had  no  experience  in  Europe.  The 
unusual  sight  of  so  many  thousands  flocking  to  the 
confessionals  and  approaching  the  communion-rail  told 
him  clearly  that  here,  if  anywhere,  was  a  field  of  activ- 
ity worthy  of  the  best  traditions  of  his  Order.  But 
what  appealed  to  him  most  strongly  was  the  number 
of  devout  men  who  crowded  the  church  and  received 
the  sacraments. 

All  beginnings  have  an  interest  peculiarly  their  own. 
We  love  to  read  of  them;  and  this  is  all  the  more  true 
when,  as  in  the  present  instance,  they  develop  into  a 
power  for  good.  Accordingly,  the  writer  has  not  hesi- 
tated to  make  lengthy  citations  from  the  papers  of 
that  day,  showing  the  method,  the  hardships  and  the 
abundant  fruits  of  those  early  missions  which  both 
began  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  the  Friars  Preacher 
in  the  United  States  and  prepared  the  way  for  the 
career  of  one  who  was  now  to  attain  pre-eminence  in 
this  field  of  apostolic  labor — Rev.  Charles  H.  Mc- 
Kenna.  Indeed,  had  it  not  been  for  them,  probably 
Father  McKenna  would  never  have  become  one  of 
America's  favorite  missionaries. 


EARLY  MISSIONS.  87 

From  the  entrance  of  the  Dominicans  upon  the  mis- 
sions in  the  east,  the  distinguished  convert  editor  of  the 
Freeman's  Journal,  pleased  with  their  work,  advo- 
cated through  the  columns  of  his  paper  their  estab- 
lishment in  New  York,  where  one  of  their  institute, 
Father  Thomas  Martin,  had  not  only  been  a  trusted 
adviser  of  Archbishop  Hughes,  but  had  done  much 
for  the  diocese.  While  the  mission  at  the  Immacu- 
late Conception  was  in  progress,  Rev.  Thomas  Treanor 
and  Doctors  William  Plowden  Morrogh  and  Edward 
McGlynn  also  took  up  the  cause  and  requested  Arch- 
bishop McCloskey  to  give  the  Friars  Preacher  a  foun- 
dation in  his  episcopal  city.  The  response  to  this 
appeal  was  an  almost  immediate  offer  of  a  parish  in 
what  was  then  the  northeastern  suburbs  of  New  York. 
This  was  in  the  April  of  1867.  In  June  of  the  same 
year  the  fathers  purchased  the  land  on  the  east  side  of 
Lexington  Avenue,  extending  from  Sixty-fifth  to 
Sixty-sixth  Street,  where  now  stand  the  church,  con- 
vent and  school  of  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer.  In  July,  the 
Very  Rev.  George  A.  Wilson,  who  had  been  at  the 
head  of  the  missions,  took  charge  of  the  congregation. 
A  small  frame  structure  that  was  erected  at  once,  served 
as  a  house  of  prayer  for  the  people  for  more  than  two 
years.  But  in  the  fall  of  1869  a  handsome  and  devo- 
tional brick  church  was  dedicated  for  divine  services.4 
At  the  same  time  the  fathers  moved  from  the  rented 
house,  which  they  previously  occupied,  to  take  posses- 
sion of  their  new  convent  at  the  rear  of  the  church  and 
facing  on  Sixty-sixth  Street. 

Because  it  had  been  one  of  the  fruits  of  their  mis- 

*  The  second  church  of  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer  is  now  torn  down,  and 
the  building  of  a  newer  and  more  stately  edifice  is  under  way. 


88  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

sionary  labors  in  the  metropolis  of  New  York,  the  new 
Dominican  institution  was  given  the  name  of  Saint 
Vincent  Ferrer,  in  honor  of  the  great  Spanish  Domin- 
ican missionary.  Thus,  apart  from  its  advantageous 
location,  it  was  fitting  that  the  New  York  house  should 
become  and  remain  a  home  for  many  of  the  fathers 
engaged  on  the  missions  in  the  east. 

From  this  institution,  as  from  a  center,  the  Friars 
Preacher  continued  to  give  missions  through  all  the 
surrounding  country — especially  in  the  large  cities. 
Before  the  dedication  of  the  second  Saint  Vincent 
Ferrer's  Church  this  line  of  work  had  been  thoroughly 
organized  in  every  part  of  the  province.  Gradually 
the  fathers  extended  their  labors  through  the  west  and 
south,  which  led  in  course  of  time  to  the  establishment 
in  each  of  these  sections  of  missionary  bands  similar  to 
that  in  the  east.  From  the  beginning,  these  efforts 
were  attended  everywhere  with  much  success;  and  it 
was  a  success  that  has  suffered  no  decrease,  with  the 
exception  of  a  brief  period  of  about  two  years,  when 
there  was  a  temporary  lull,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
many  of  the  men  formerly  thus  engaged  had  either 
succumbed  to  the  hard  life,  or  had  been  placed  by 
force  of  circumstances  at  other  work. 

The  long  hours  of  arduous  labor  on  the  missions — 
from  five  in  the  morning  till  eleven,  or  even  later,  at 
night — were  a  sore  test  for  human  endurance,  all  the 
more  so  when,  as  often  happened,  the  missioners  were 
thus  engaged  for  many  weeks  without  intermission. 
As  early  as  1867,  Father  H.  P.  Ralph,  one  of  the 
province's  most  eloquent  speakers  and  most  efficient 
missioners,  was  stricken  with  partial  paralysis  under 
the  strain.  The  constitutions  of  others  also  began  to 


SAINT  VINCENT  FERRER'S  CHURCH,  NEW  YORK. 


EARLY  MISSIONS.  89 

break.  This  sad  experience  led  to  a  gradual  system- 
atizing of  the  hours  for  confessions,  so  that,  while 
ample  time  is  afforded  the  faithful  to  confess  their 
sins,  the  health  of  the  fathers  is  safeguarded  and  their 
lives  prolonged  for  service  in  the  cause  of  Christ  and 
His  Church. 

But  the  change  in  the  hours  for  confessions  brought 
no  change  in  the  character  of  the  devotional  exercises 
and  sermons  of  the  missions,  or  in  the  policy  or 
method  of  the  missioners.  These  remain  practically 
the  same  today  as  they  were  half  a  century  ago. 
Those  early  fathers  did  not  preach  strictly  dogmatic 
sermons  that  soared  above  the  heads  of  an  ordinary 
audience.  Nor,  again,  did  they  take  it  for  granted 
that  all  that  exists  is  bad,  and  Jansenistically  assail 
imaginary  evils  with  bitter  invective.  While  not  neg- 
lecting to  paint  vice  in  all  its  hideous  colors  and  to  bring 
home  to  sinners  the  necessity  of  repentance,  they  fol- 
lowed the  middle  way,  where  prudence  reigns,  and  thus 
sought  to  create  a  wholesome  religious  sentiment  and 
to  inculcate  the  practice  of  virtue  by  sound  Christian 
doctrine  and  earnest  exhortation.  Since  the  number 
of  sermons  was  necessarily  limited,  they  chose  such  sub- 
jects as  were  most  practical  and  applicable  to  the  daily 
lives  of  the  people.  As  experience  has  shown  the 
wisdom  of  this  course,  it  continues  to  be  observed  today 
by  the  three  missionary  bands  of  the  east,  west  and 
south. 

Another  principle  of  those  early  missionaries  was  to 
seek  first  the  sheep  of  the  fold,  to  the  end  that  they 
might  make  the  good  better,  convert  the  evil-doer,  and 
bring  back  those  who  had  lost  their  birthright  of  faith. 
Yet  they  did  not  exclude  those  not  of  the  Catholic 


90  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

household.  All  were  invited  to  attend  the  missions; 
all  were  cordially  received,  whatever  their  religious 
convictions.  Few,  indeed,  if  any  were  the  missions  at 
which  a  largely  attended  catechetical  class  was  not  held 
for  the  instruction  of  converts.  But,  as  the  reports  of 
their  apostolic  labors  show,  it  was  a  strict  rule  that 
the  fathers  themselves  should  not  receive  their  cate- 
chumens into  the  Church.  It  was  felt  that  converts 
could  not  be  properly  prepared  for  so  momentous  a 
step  in  so  short  a  time;  and  for  this  reason,  with  rare 
exceptions,  they  were  left  for  further  preparation 
under  the  care  of  the  parish  clergy,  to  whose  judg- 
ment it  belonged  to  decide  when  they  were  sufficiently 
instructed  for  baptism.  These  policies  are  still  faith- 
fully followed  today.  Although  at  the  request  of 
some  pastor  an  occasional  mission  is  given  to  non- 
Catholics,  the  province  confines  its  activities  in  the  mis- 
sionary field  almost  exclusively  to  Catholics,  for  the 
reason  that  it  often  finds  itself  taxed  to  supply  the 
demand  for  these  and  is  convinced  that  its  efforts  are 
most  fruitful  among  those  of  the  Catholic  fold. 

The  great  world-wide  Catholic  devotion  to  the 
Mother  of  God — the  Rosary — ,  so  intimately  connected 
with  the  Order  of  Saint  Dominic,  formed  a  conspicu- 
ous part  of  the  early  mission.  Every  spiritual  exer- 
cise began  with  its  recital.  Twice  a  day  a  short  in- 
struction was  given  on  its  mysteries,  its  merits  as  a 
devotion  and  as  a  prayer,  both  vocal  and  mental,  the 
place  it  should  have  in  every  Catholic  household,  and 
the  way  in  which  it  should  be  recited.  Its  history  was 
recounted,  and  instances  were  cited  of  how  it  had  kept 
the  faith  alive  for  ages  when  unjust  laws  had  banished 
the  priests,  or  put  them  to  death,  or  made  it  necessary 


EARLY  MISSIONS.  91 

for  the  few  who  remained  to  live  in  hiding,  unable 
properly  to  attend  to  the  spiritual  needs  of  their  per- 
secuted flocks. 

Another  society  assiduously  propagated  by  the  early 
fathers  was  that  of  the  Holy  Name,  which  is  almost  as 
intimately  connected  with  the  Order  as  the  Rosary, 
and  which  has  been  productive  of  incalculable  good 
among  Catholic  men.  At  the  time  of  which  we  speak, 
the  laws  of  the  Church  forbade  the  erection  of  more 
than  one  society  of  the  Rosary  or  Holy  Name  in  any 
city,  a  restriction  that  greatly  impeded  the  efforts  of 
the  fathers  in  this  propaganda.  But  whenever  the 
law  permitted  and  the  pastor  so  desired,  both  of  these 
societies  were  established. 

If  the  mission  continued  for  two  weeks,  as  was  gen- 
erally the  case,  the  fathers  sought  to  arrange  with  the 
pastor  to  devote  the  first  to  the  women,  the  second  to 
the  men  of  the  parish.  At  the  close  of  the  mission  for 
men  a  pledge  was  given  to  abstain  from  all  cursing, 
swearing  and  profane  language.  An  experienced  mis- 
sionary once  remarked  to  the  writer:  "It  is  hard  to 
imagine  a  more  inspiring  experience  than  to  hear  a 
great  congregation  of  men  intoning  in  full,  strong, 
earnest  voice  a  promise  to  honor  and  revere  the  sacred 
names  of  God  our  Father  and  Christ  our  Lord." 
These  devotions  and  practices,  the  beneficial  results  of 
which  have  been  proved  by  long  experience,  are  still 
observed  and  are  part  and  parcel  of  the  Dominican 
mission  of  today. 

The  great  good  that  has  been,  and  continues  to  be 
accomplished  for  religion  by  parochial  missions,  God 
alone  knows.  Perhaps  not  even  the  extremest  en- 
thusiast has  ever  dreamed  of  the  numbers  of  Catholics 


92  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

who  have  in  this  way  been  snatched  from  perdition,  or 
quickened  and  strengthened  in  their  faith  and  its  prac- 
tices. 

Such,  in  brief,  is  the  history — in  the  United  States — , 
and  such  the  nature  of  the  spiritual  work  that  was 
now  to  fill  the  days  of  Rev.  Charles  McKenna,  the 
thread  of  whose  life  we  may  now  continue  with  but 
few  interruptions.  The  way  had  been  prepared  for 
him.  How  zealously  he  took  up  the  work,  and  how 
fruitfully  he  labored  at  it  in  almost  every  part  of  the 
country,  will  be  shown  in  the  course  of  this  biography. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

IN  NEW  YORK:  ON  THE  MISSIONS. 
(1870-1871) 

WHO  has  not  felt  the  pang  of  sorrow  at  the  loss  of 
a  cherished  friend,  or  the  kindred  pain  at  leaving  a 
place  that  had  gained  a  hold  on  one's  affections?  Such 
was  now  to  be  the  experience  of  our  future  mission- 
ary. A  little  more  than  four  years  he  had  lived  at  the 
cradle  of  organized  Dominican  life  in  the  United 
States,  Saint  Rose's  Priory,  Kentucky,  where  in  Oc- 
tober, 1806,  just  sixty-four  years  before,  had  been 
started  the  tender  plant  of  Saint  Dominic  that  had 
grown  into  a  tree  of  fair  proportions,  sending  its 
branches  out  over  the  broad  land.  The  peaceful  quiet 
of  Saint  Rose's,  its  historic  and  religious  associations 
and  the  beautiful  country  surrounding  it  had  a  charm 
for  Father  McKenna  that  lasted  as  long  as  he  lived. 
Often  had  he  wandered  over  the  gently  undulating 
hills,  every  part  of  which  he  had  grown  to  love  almost 
as  he  loved  the  simple  Catholic  people.  That  the 
people  loved  him  is  attested  by  the  fond  memories  of 
him  that  lingered  in  the  congregation  during  the  boy- 
hood days  of  the  writer.  But  the  good  priest's  sadness 
was  tempered  with  joy,  for  he  felt  that  now  he  was  to 
begin  the  work  for  which  he  had  yearned,  and  for 
which  Saint  Dominic  had  established  his  Order — the 
salvation  of  souls. 

On  Friday,  September  24,  1870,  Father  McKenna 
received  from  his  provincial,  Rev.  Francis  J.  Dunn, 

93 


94  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

letters  transferring  him  from  Saint  Rose's  to  Saint 
Vincent  Ferrer's,  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  fol- 
lowing Sunday  he  bade  farewell  to  his  little  congre- 
gation in  Springfield,  and  that  week  left  Kentucky 
for  his  new  field  of  labor. 

The  New  York  of  1870  was  not  the  New  York  of 
today;  nor  had  the  traveller  of  that  period  the  con- 
veniences or  the  luxuries  to  which  the  present  genera- 
tion has  grown  so  accustomed.  Leaving  Saint  Rose's, 
Wednesday,  Sept.  28,  1870,  the  young  missioner  went 
in  a  farm  wagon  to  Lebanon,  eleven  miles  distant. 
Thence  he  travelled  by  train  to  Louisville,  where  he 
remained  over  night  at  the  convent  of  Saint  Louis 
Bertrand.  Early  the  next  day  he  began  the  long 
journey  to  the  east,  spending  two  nights  on  the  train 
and  catching  what  little  sleep  he  could  on  the  coach 
seat.  It  was  high  noon  on  Saturday  when  he  landed 
from  the  ferry-boat  at  the  foot  of  Cortlandt  Street. 
On  his  arrival  at  the  convent  he  had  merely  time  to 
eat  a  hasty  meal  before  entering  the  church  to  help 
with  the  heavy  confessional  work  preceding  Rosary 
Sunday.  An  unceremonious  reception,  the  reader  may 
say,  for  one  who  was  to  occupy  a  not  inconspicuous 
place  in  the  Catholic  hall  of  fame  in  the  United  States. 
But  it  must  be  remembered  that  those  were  days  of 
hard  labor,  not  of  ceremony. 

Father  Charles  H.  McKenna  was  thirty-five  years 
of  age  when  he  was  sent  to  New  York.  From  that 
time  until  his  death,  more  than  forty-six  years  later, 
with  the  exception  of  three  years  during  which  he  was 
prior  in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  two  years  during 
which  he  held  the  same  office  at  Saint  Joseph's  Priory, 


ON  THE  MISSIONS.  95 

Somerset,  Ohio,  he  made  his  home  at  Saint  Vincent 
Ferrer's.1 

During  his  last  two  years  in  Kentucky  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  had  studied  and  written  sermons  by  way  of 
preparation  for  the  work  to  which  he  hoped  to  be  as- 
signed. But  to  give  him  a  practical  idea  of  this  labor, 
he  had  been  appointed,  before  leaving  the  south,  to 
assist  his  prior,  Rev.  J.  H.  Slinger,  in  hearing  confes- 
sions and  to  follow  the  religious  exercises  at  two  mis- 
sions of  one  week  each  at  Saint  Rose's  and  at  Saint 
Dominic's,  Springfield.  His  real  initiation  into  mis- 
sionary work,  however,  came  immediately  after  his 
arrival  in  the  east.  The  very  day  after  he  reached 
New  York  he  was  hurried  to  Waterbury,  Connecticut, 
to  help  on  a  mission  which  the  fathers  were  opening 
for  the  Rev.  Thomas  F.  Hendricken,  pastor  of  the 
Church  of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  As  it  was  at 
this  mission  in  Waterbury  that  the  holy  Friar  Preacher 
began  his  noted  apostolic  career,  we  shall  let  an  eye- 
witness tell  of  its  results  through  the  columns  of  the 
New  York  Tablet: 

"  It  is  no  longer,  thank  God,  an  unusual  thing,  to  hear  of  a 
Mission.  Our  numerous  regular  clergy  are  laboring  hard  in 
that  fertile  field,  and  great  are. the  results  brought  forth.  It 
was  lately  my  happiness  to  be  present  at  a  Mission.  It  was  my 
first.  I  will  never  forget  it.  Having  heard  and  read  much 
about  Missions,  I  was  prepared  for  much  fervor  among  the  peo- 
ple— many  soul-stirring  sermons  on  the  part  of  the  Missionaries. 
But  I  must  confess  my  most  fervid  anticipations  were  surpassed. 
Never  did  I  witness  such  proofs  of  lively  faith,  of  fervent  piety, 
as  on  that  occasion.  The  mission  commenced  on  Rosary  Sun- 

i  Although  Father  McKenna  remained  assigned  to  the  convent  in  Louis- 
ville from  the  time  he  was  prior  there  until  1899,  he  made  his  home  in  New 
York  because  it  was  a  more  convenient  center  for  his  missionary  activities. 


96  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

day,  October  2nd,  and  continued  for  two  weeks.  It  was  opened 
by  Rev.  Father  Turner,  of  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's,  New  York. 
He  was  assisted  by  Rev.  Fathers  McGovern,  Byrne  and  Mc- 
Kenna  of  the  same  Order. 

"From  the  very  commencement  the  Mission  was  attended  by 
an  eager  congregation.  The  large  new  church  was  found  too 
small  to  admit  all  who  sought  to  enter.  At  the  early  hour  of 
five  in  the  morning  the  church  was  filled  with  the  faithful,  and 
the  writer  knows  of  many  who  came  as  early  as  two  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  in  order  to  get  near  the  confessionals.  Ten 
o'clock  at  night  would  find  the  confessionals  still  crowded,  and 
the  sexton  had  to  be  positive  when  the  time  came  for  closing  the 
church.  God  alone  knows  the  good  that  is  effected  at  the  Mis- 
sions. He  alone  knows  the  conversions  made  to  the  faith,  the 
number  of  those  who  return  to  the  paths  of  rectitude,  after 
running  wild  for  years  in  the  paths  of  vice.  What  was  most 
astonishing  was  the  large  number  of  communicants.  Early  in 
the  second  week,  3000  had  gone  to  communion.  This  was  the 
number  at  most  that  Dr.  Hendricken,  the  pastor,  expected  would 
approach,  yet  the  crowd  of  penitents  did  not  diminish.  On  the 
contrary,  it  hourly  increased;  and  towards  the  end  of  the  week 
the  two  vestries,  where  the  confessionals  were  placed,  were  liter- 
ally packed.  The  great  number  of  communicants  can  be  ac- 
counted for  by  the  fact  that  the  advent  of  the  Missionaries  to 
Waterbury  in  some  measure  renewed  the  scenes  witnessed  in  the 
days  of  St.  Vincent  Ferrer.  His  approach  to  a  town  was  a  pow- 
erful attraction  of  grace  which  drew  the  faithful  to  him  from 
every  direction.  For  on  this  occasion  they  came  by  railway,  in 
carriages,  and  on  foot,  for  miles  around,  to  attend  the  holy  Mis- 
sion. I  do  not  know  that  all  or  any  of  the  good  Dominicans 
pretend  to  the  gift  of  miracles ;  but  I  do  know  that  never  did  I 
see  such  lively  faith  manifested  in  a  people  as  on  this  occasion. 
Whenever  a  white  habit  was  seen  a  crowd  ran  to  ask  a  blessing 
or  obtain  some  favor,  and  many  were  the  prayers  offered  and  the 
blessings  invoked  on  '  the  good  white  Fathers.'  .  .  ."2 

2  New  York  Tablet,  October  27,  1870. 


ON  THE  MISSIONS.  97 

The  Tablet's  correspondent  then  proceeds  to  de- 
scribe the  closing  of  the  mission,  at  which,  he  says,  not 
merely  the  church  and  its  galleries  but  even  the  sanc- 
tuary and  sacristies  were  filled  to  suffocation.  And  a 
correspondent  of  the  Freeman's  Journal,  writing  on 
the  same  subject,  tells  us: 

"The  Fathers  worked  in  the  confessional  with  their  accus- 
tomed assiduity;  and  in  the  pulpit  they  seemed  masters  of  the 
subjects  of  which  they  treated,  as  well  as  of  the  attention  of 
their  hearers.  Four  thousand  three  hundred  was  the  number  of 
communions.  The  characteristic  of  this  mission,  both  on  the 
part  of  the  fathers  and  of  the  people,  was  a  quiet  yet  resolute 
disposition  thoroughly  to  perform  the  holy  work  they  had  un- 
dertaken. .  .  ."3 

The  mission  at  Waterbury,  marking  as  it  does  an 
era  in  good  Father  McKenna's  life,  deserves  a  special 
place  in  his  biography.  It  was  the  beginning  of  a 
long,  fruitful  career  that  is  possibly  without  a  parallel 
in  the  history  of  Catholic  parochial  missionary  work 
in  the  United  States. 

The  quiet  determination  to  get  at  the  root  of  evil 
and  to  make  the  people  better  Catholics,  of  which  the 
correspondent  of  the  Freeman's  Journal  speaks,  was 
characteristic  of  all  the  pious  friar's  priestly  ministra- 
tions. And  the  eloquence  that  then  held  the  rapt  at- 
tention of  the  good  Catholics  of  Waterbury,  was  but  a 
foreshadowing  of  that  more  sublime  oratory  which  in 
years  to  come  was  to  hold  vast  audiences  spellbound. 
Another  salient  feature  of  this  (his  first)  mission — un- 
pretentious simplicity — was  a  characteristic  of  our  mis- 
sioner's  whole  life.  Truly  a  man  of  God,  no  success, 
however  great,  ever  caused  him  to  forget  that  all 

s  Freeman's  Journal,  October  29,  1870. 
8 


98  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

talents  are  gifts  from  on  high,  and  that  men  are  but 
the  instruments  of  the  Almighty  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  His  purpose.  Realizing  that  pride  is  the 
broad  road  that  leads  to  all  evil,  while  humility  is  the 
fountain  whence  spring  virtue  and  true  wisdom,  he 
sought  earnestly  to  cultivate  in  his  soul  that  lowliness 
of  spirit  which  would  bring  grace  to  himself  and  fruit- 
fulness  to  his  labors. 

At  Waterbury  began  an  intimate  friendship  between 
the  zealous  young  missionary  and  the  gifted  pastor  of 
the  Church  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  Rev. 
Thomas  F.  Hendricken,  later  the  first  bishop  of  Provi- 
dence, that  ended  only  with  the  bishop's  death. 
Wherever,  indeed,  Father  McKenna  went  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  duties — and  that  was  through  the 
length  and  breadth  of  the  country — his  sincerity,  dis- 
interested zeal  and  unpretentious  piety  won  him  the 
lifelong  friendship  of  the  pastors  for  whom  he  preached 
or  gave  missions.  It  is  an  old  and  true  adage  that  a 
strong  irMgi  perforce  makes  enemies.  Our  Friar 
Preacher  was  almost  the  exception  to  this  rule.  He 
had  indeed  many  friends ;  but  few  were  his  enemies.  A 
firm  character,  ever  the  priest  and  the  gentleman,  once 
he  became  your  friend,  he  was  your  friend  for  life. 
Always  considerate  of  the  feelings  and  the  needs  of 
others,  those  who  became  his  friends  remained  so  until 
the  end. 

Nearly  all  the  remainder  of  the  year  1870  was  spent 
on  the  missions — principally  in  the  state  of  Connecti- 
cut, where  the  promising  pulpit  orator  received  his 
baptism  of  fire.  Missions  at  Middletown,  Saint 
Peter's  (Hartford)  and  Saint  Mary's  (New  Haven) 
followed  closely  upon  that  at  Waterbury,  and  were 


ON  THE  MISSIONS.  99 

equally  fruitful  in  good.  In  the  last  years  of  his  life, 
when  in  reminiscent  mood,  the  grand  old  man  loved  to 
descant  on  those  early  efforts  in  the  Lord's  vineyard. 
He  felt  that  his  greatest  success  was  achieved  on  the 
mission  at  Hartford.  Those  at  Middletown  and  New 
Haven,  however,  merit  special  mention,  as  it  was  at 
these  places  that  he  began  to  gain  fame  as  an  orator 
and  missionary. 

Across  the  Connecticut  River,  opposite  Middletown, 
are  the  celebrated  quarries  of  Portland  brownstone, 
where  at  the  period  of  which  we  speak,  about  one  thou- 
sand men  were  employed.  At  the  same  time,  possibly 
an  equal  number  was  engaged  in  building  railroads  in 
the  city  and  vicinity.  Nearly  all  these  workmen  were 
Irish  Catholics.  Most  of  them,  attracted  by  the  report 
of  the  fathers'  splendid  sermons,  attended  the  mission. 
The  presence  of  so  many  men  of  the  laboring  classes 
gave  Father  McKenna  an  occasion  for  which  he  had 
longed.  His  very  soul  was  stirred,  for  he  had  himself 
belonged  to  this  class  of  men,  and  had  learned  through 
sad  experience  their  great  need  of  spiritual  aid.  Be- 
fore studying  for  the  priesthood  he  had  resolved  that, 
if  he  ever  attained  to  the  dignity  of  an  ambassador  of 
Christ,  no  small  part  of  his  sacerdotal  ministry  should 
be  given  to  the  spiritual  uplift  of  Catholic  men,  par- 
ticularly those  whose  condition  in  life  compelled  them 
to  be  "hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water."  The 
remembrance  of  his  own  past  caused  his  priestly  heart 
to  go  out  to  the  multitude  of  laboring  men  who  at- 
tended the  mission  at  Middletown.  He  poured  out 
his  zealous  soul  to  them  with  all  the  fire  of  his  elo- 
quence. Many  possibly  came  to  scoff,  but  they  re- 
mained to  pray.  The  mission  was  one  of  the  most 


100  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

successful  given  by  the  fathers  in  those  early  days; 
and  tradition  tells  us  that  to  none  was  its  success  due 
more  than  to  Father  McKenna. 

In  New  Haven  the  ever  increasing  crowds  obliged 
the  pastor,  the  Rev.  E.  J.  O'Brien,  to  hire  the  city 
music  hall  that  stood  near  the  church  to  accommodate 
the  overflow.  A  correspondent  of  the  Freeman's 
Journal  tell  us:  ".  .  .  The  sermons  during  the  mis- 
sion were  remarkably  practical,  and  evidently  effectual 
in  awakening  slumbering  faith  and  inflaming  charity 
and  repentance.  In  this  connection,  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  sermon  on  the  Immaculate  Conception  may 
be  mentioned  as  in  every  respect  worthy  the  ancient 
fame  of  the  Dominican  Order.  .  .  .  May  God  grant 
that  our  country  may  be  blessed  by  many  such  mis- 
sionaries."4 

The  mission  in  New  Haven  produced  a  sensation  in 
the  university  city  not  unlike  that  caused  by  the  first 
appearance  of  the  Dominicans  in  New  York  at  the 
Church  of  the  Transfiguration  four  years  before.  One 
of  its  immediate  results  was  the  establishment  of  an 
intimate  friendship  between  the  fathers  who  conducted 
it  and  the  pastor  of  the  church.  These  circumstances, 
together  with  other  missions  given  in  later  years  for 
Bishop  McMahon  at  his  cathedral  in  Hartford,  in- 
duced that  distinguished  prelate,  in  1886,  to  request 
the  Friars  Preacher  to  take  charge  of  the  new  Saint 
Mary's  Church,  New  Haven. 

By  the  beginning  of  1871,  although  he  had  been  a 
missioner  but  four  months,  our  pious  son  of  Saint 
Dominic  was  well  into  the  swing  of  the  apostolic  life. 
By  the  close  of  1871  he  was  acknowledged  by  his 

*  Ibid.,  December  24,  1870. 


ON  THE  MISSIONS.  101 

brethren  to  be  second  to  none  in  zeal,  while  it  was  seen 
that  the  day  was  not  far  distant  when  in  sacred  oratory 
also  he  would  measure  up  with  the  best.  That  year 
was  given  largely  to  the  city  and  state  of  New  York, 
with  occasional  missions  here  and  there  through  New 
England,  and  a  few  as  far  west  as  Ohio.  Everywhere 
Father  McKenna's  zeal,  eloquence,  priestly  deport- 
ment and  courteous  manners  produced  the  most  salu- 
tary effects  and  left  lasting  impressions  among  both 
clergy  and  people. 

It  is  an  old  tradition  of  the  Order  of  Preachers, 
dating  back  to  its  very  foundation  and  doubtless  ex- 
pressive of  the  spirit  of  Saint  Dominic  himself,  to  write 
little  of  its  inner  life  or  even  of  its  external  activities. 
While  its  members  have  written,  and  written  well,  on 
almost  every  other  subject,  they  have  singularly  neg- 
lected that  which,  according  to  the  dictates  of  worldly 
wisdom,  they  should  have  been  most  anxious  to  make 
known  to  the  world.  The  same  spirit  has  prevailed, 
though  not  quite  to  the  same  extent,  with  regard  to 
the  preservation  of  records  and  documents  relative  to 
the  history  of  the  Order  and  its  apostolic  work.  His- 
torians have  often  complained  of  this  indifference 
shown  by  the  institute  to  chronicle  its  labors  and  do- 
mestic affairs;  for  this  carelessness  has  often  rendered 
it  necessary  for  them  to  seek  information  from  archives 
and  sources  other  than  Dominican,  and  in  many  in- 
stances has  deprived  the  student  of  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory of  important  knowledge. 

This  same  spirit,  brought  from  Europe  by  the 
founders  of  the  Order  in  the  United  States,  became  in- 
grained in  the  American  fathers.  Far  from  being 
gratified  by  the  wide  notoriety  given  their  early  mis- 


102  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

sionary  efforts  in  the  east  through  the  public  press,  it 
seemed  to  displease  them,  and  they  took  steps  to  pre- 
vent such  notices  of  the  subsequent  missions  from  ap- 
pearing. More  than  once  the  strenuous  convert  edi- 
tor of  the  Freeman's  Journal,  James  J.  McMaster, 
complained  of  his  inability  to  get  reports  from  them  in 
regard  to  their  apostolic  work.  And  a  correspondent 
of  that  paper  writes  in  the  same  strain:  "Whilst  ad- 
miring their  disregard  for  notoriety,  we  do  not  ap- 
prove their  withholding  many  things  connected  with 
their  Order,  which  are  calculated  to  edify  and  console." 
The  Journal's  correspondent  then  proceeds  to  tell 
how,  knowing  that  many  missions  had  been  given  by 
the  fathers,  both  in  the  east  and  in  the  west,  and  seeing 
no  notices  of  their  results  published,  he  went  to  their 
convent  in  New  York  to  seek  information.  He  re- 
ceived, however,  but  a  partial  list,  in  brief  outline,  of 
the  missions  they  had  given  in  one  year.  Fortunately 
he  learned  enough  to  tell  us  that  the  number  of  com- 
munions given  at  each  of  these  missions  ranged  from 
three  thousand  to  eight  thousand  five  hundred,  and 
that  the  number  of  clergymen  employed  on  them  was 
from  three  to  seven,  according  to  the  size  and  local  im- 
portance of  the  parishes.  The  article  then  goes  on  to 
show  how  strongly  the  Friars  Preacher  insisted  on  the 
principle  that  converts  should  be  thoroughly  grounded 
in  the  Catholic  faith  before  being  received  into  the 
Church,  and  concludes  with  the  following  apprecia- 
tion of  their  parochial  labors  in  New  York:  "Their 
church  in  this  city  is  a  fine  edifice,  and  from  the 
number  of  penitents  frequenting  its  numerous  confes- 
sionals, it  would  seem  that  a  continual  missionary  exer- 
cise was  going  on  within  its  walls.  May  God  enable 


ON  THE  MISSIONS.  103 

the  good  fathers  to  pursue  their  faithful  and  arduous 
labors."5 

Because  of  the  almost  total  lack  of  records,  notes 
taken  from  conversations  with  the  older  fathers  who 
were  actively  engaged  in  the  apostolic  labors  of  the 
province,  were  of  much  service  in  the  composition  of 
our  biography.  But  of  special  value  were  data  simi- 
larly jotted  down  after  long  talks  with  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  himself,  who  unconsciously  supplied  much 
matter  for  his  own  life.  He  long  kept  private  records 
of  his  missions,  but  a  search  for  these  shows  that  they 
have  disappeared. 

Fruitful  as  was  the  first  year  of  Father  McKenna's 
labors  on  the  missions,  it  was  but  a  promise  of  the 
greater  success  that  was  to  attend  his  efforts  as  he  grew 
in  experience,  eloquence  and  reputation.  Shortly  after 
his  arrival  in  the  east,  in  addition  to  his  missionary 
work,  the  zealous  young  priest  was  given  charge  of 
the  Holy  Name  Society  of  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's 
Church,  New  York.  But  of  his  interest  in  this  society 
we  shall  have  to  speak  frequently  in  the  course  of  his 
life. 

»J6«.,  July  15,  1871. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

SUCCESS  AND  FAILURE :  SICKNESS. 
(1871-1873) 

FATHER  McKENNA  had  not  been  long  on  the  mis- 
sions when  he  realized  that  lectures  on  practical  Catho- 
lic or  religious  topics,  particularly  those  that  occu- 
pied the  public  mind  at  the  time,  were  not  only  of 
keen  interest  but  most  instructive  and  profitable  to 
those  of  the  faith.  Accordingly,  we  find  him  engaged 
in  this  work  also  before  the  close  of  the  first  year  of 
his  missionary  labors. 

The  fathers  were  required  by  rule  to  return  to  their 
convent  immediately  after  each  mission,  unless  an- 
other was  to  begin  at  once.  To  deviate  from  this  law 
a  special  permission  was  necessary  in  every  instance. 
When  Father  Burke  arrived  in  America,  our  friar  was 
engaged  on  a  mission  at  the  Church  of  the  Immacu- 
late Conception,  Salem,  Massachusetts.  At  its  close 
the  pastor,  Rev.  William  Hally,  requested  him  to  lec- 
ture on  the  following  Thursday  on  the  "  Confessional, 
or  the  Power  of  the  Church  to  forgive  Sins."  As 
there  was  not  time  to  write,  Father  McKenna  tele- 
graphed for  permission  to  remain  for  that  purpose, 
and  sent  a  warm  welcome  to  Father  "Tom"  Burke 
who  had  just  arrived  in  the  country  to  make  a  visita- 
tion of  the  province.  This  was  one  of  his  earliest  lec- 
tures, and  it  met  with  much  applause. 

Other  topics  on  which  he  began  to  lecture  at  this 
time,  or  a  little  later,  were  the  "  Divinity  of  the  Catho- 

104 


SUCCESS  AND  FAILURE.  105 

lie  Church";  the  "Immaculate  Conception,"  a  doctrine 
that  was  defined  only  in  1854  as  belonging  to  revealed 
truth;  the  "Real  Presence";  "Saint  Patrick  and  His 
Mission  in  Ireland";  "Papal  Infallibility,"  a  sub- 
ject that  was  uppermost  in  the  public  thought  of  that 
period.  Although  to  a  Catholic  of  today  it  would 
seem  there  could  never  have  been  much  room  for  doubt, 
papal  infallibility  was  not  declared  a  part  of  the  sacred 
deposit  of  faith  until  in  the  July  of  1870,  less  than 
three  months  before  Father  McKenna  began  his  life  as 
a  missioner.  Its  ex  cathedra  definition  caused  an  im- 
mense stir  in  the  world,  giving  rise  to  much  discussion. 
This,  therefore,  was  a  topic  on  which  he  was  frequently 
asked  to  lecture.  Soon  he  acquired  the  reputation  of 
being  a  lecturer  of  note.  At  almost  every  one  of  his 
subsequent  missions  his  services  were  demanded  in  this 
line,  and  everywhere  he  drew  large  audiences. 

One  exception,  however,  must  be  recorded.  It  was 
an  attempt  at  a  lecture  on  Saint  Patrick  in  the 
theater  at  Poughkeepsie,  New  York,  given  under  the 
auspices  of  Saint  Peter's  Church,  March  17,  1871. 
As  the  invitation  to  lecture  was  received  only  a  week 
before  Saint  Patrick's  Day  and  he  had  never  at- 
tempted anything  in  that  line,  Father  McKenna  ac- 
cepted it  only  under  obedience.  Kept  busy  with  pas- 
toral and  other  work,  he  had  time  merely  to  prepare 
the  foreword  and  to  gather  a  few  notes.  These  he 
hoped  to  throw  into  shape  after  his  arrival  at  Pough- 
keepsie, where  he  was  to  arrive  on  the  evening  of 
March  16.  The  clergyman  in  temporary  charge  of  the 
church  was  an  Italian,  but  the  congregation  was  com- 
posed almost  wholly  of  Irish  or  those  of  Irish  paren- 
tage. The  son  of  sunny  Italy,  so  the  story  goes, 


106  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

anxious  to  win  the  favor  of  the  people,  had  resolved  to 
outdo  all  previous  Saint  Patrick's  Day  celebrations. 

Thus  when  Father  McKenna  arrived  in  Poughkeep- 
sie,  he  found  that  the  program  for  the  event  had  been 
posted  not  merely  through  the  city,  but  the  surround- 
ing country.  It  included  a  solemn  mass,  a  grand  pa- 
rade, a  meeting  of  the  parish,  a  banquet,  and  "a  lec- 
ture on  Saint  Patrick  by  an  eloquent  Dominican  mis- 
sionary." As  the  good  pastor  insisted  that  the 
speaker  take  part  in  every  feature  of  the  program, 
which  filled  the  entire  day,  there  was  no  time  left  for 
study.  No  pleading  of  Father  McKenna  for  a  chance 
for  further  preparation  and  the  marshalling  of  his 
notes  would  be  accepted.  The  zealous  friar  prayed 
for  an  inspiration  that  came  not.  The  thought  of  hav- 
ing to  lecture  in  his  unprepared  state  filled  him  with 
alarm.  All  went  well,  however,  until  the  time  for  the 
address.  The  orator  of  the  day  appeared  on  the 
boards.  The  foreword  of  the  lecture,  which  had  been 
prepared,  was  delivered  with  fluency  and  met  with  fre- 
quent interruptions  of  applause  from  the  audience. 
But  when  this  was  finished,  there  came  a  hush.  The 
orator  was  completely  overcome  by  stage-fright.  A 
few  disconnected  sentences  that  ended  with:  "Ladies 
and  gentlemen,  I  can  say  no  more,"  finished  the  dis- 
course. The  young  missioner  then  disappeared  from 
the  stage,  utterly  dismayed  and  deeply  mortified. 
Although  at  the  time  Father  McKenna  was  humbled 
beyond  expression,  in  later  years  he  delighted  to  tell 
the  story  on  himself,  characterizing  the  episode  as  his 
"first  appearance  on  the  stage." 

Possibly  it  was  a  fortunate  circumstance  that  this 
incident  came  thus  early  in  Father  McKenna's  life  as 


SUCCESS  AND  FAILURE.  107 

a  public  speaker.  Though  he  failed  through  no  fault 
of  his  own,  it  was  a  lesson  which  he  never  forgot.  It 
was  the  last  time  he  attempted  a  sermon  or  a  lecture 
without  thorough  immediate  preparation,  until  he  had 
attained  an  efficiency  that  made  this  no  longer  neces- 
sary. Needless  to  say,  too,  this  was  the  only  occasion 
in  his  long  public  career  on  which  the  distinguished 
Dominican's  oratory  did  not  satisfy  the  most  sanguine 
expectations  of  his  audience. 

The  incident  at  Poughkeepsie,  amusing  as  it  is,  at 
once  recalls  and  illustrates  the  character  of  our  Friar 
Preacher's  piety.  Although  he  was  truly  a  man  of 
God,  and  much  given  to  prayer  and  severe  mortifica- 
tion, his  deep  Christian  piety  had  nothing  morose  or 
repellent  about  it.  When  it  was  time  to  pray,  he 
prayed  with  all  his  soul;  when  it  was  time  to  work,  he 
did  so  with  all  his  energy.  No  one  enjoyed  intervals 
of  recreation  more  thoroughly.  He  was  blessed  with 
a  fund  of  native  Irish  wit  and  with  an  appreciative 
sense  of  humor.  He  was  always  cheerful,  could  him- 
self laugh  heartily,  and  enjoyed  the  merry  laughter  of 
others.  While  he  could  not  tolerate  anything  that  ap- 
proached the  vulgar,  he  delighted  in  telling  an  inter- 
esting story  and  listened  with  undisguised  pleasure  to 
those  narrated  by  his  companions.  His  piety,  in  short, 
was  that  born  of  love  rather  than  that  inspired  by  fear. 
It  was  such  a  piety  as  must  have  been  that  of  Saint 
Dominic,  whose  lightsome  spirit  is  said  to  have  caused 
him  to  be  given  the  sobriquet  of  "  joculator  Domini" 
(the  Lord's  jester).  Father  McKenna's  life  is  proof 
positive  that  great  sanctity  of  soul  is  not  incompatible 
with  a  genial  disposition. 

The  year  1872  was  one  of  much  hard  work  for  our 


108  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

missionary.  Fortunately  most  of  his  missions  were  in 
the  east,  a  circumstance  that  gave  him  frequent  oppor- 
tunities to  hear  his  ideal  orator,  Father  "  Tom  "  Burke, 
deliver  many  of  his  finest  sermons  and  lectures,  and 
thus  to  study  the  great  Dominican  at  first-hand.  It 
was  a  remarkable  thing,  indeed,  to  hear  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  complain  of  having  too  much  work  to  do.  Yet 
he  ever  regretted  not  having  been  freer  during  Father 
Burke's  brief  sojourn  in  the  United  States,  that  thus 
he  might  have  heard  more  of  his  preaching  and  lectur- 
ing. But  of  this  in  the  next  chapter. 

Father  McKenna's  zeal,  even  at  this  early  period  of 
his  priestly  life,  was  not  confined  to  his  lectures  or  his 
missionary  labors.  As  has  been  seen,  his  hard  ex- 
perience as  a  common  laborer  had  taught  him  a  sad 
but  fruitful  lesson  and  had  left  a  lasting  impression 
on  his  mind.  It  was  then  that  he  learned  from  close 
observation  the  necessity  of  reaching  men  in  the  world, 
especially  men  of  the  working  class.  His  experience  in 
the  priesthood  soon  taught  him  that  no  devotion  seemed 
to  make  so  strong  or  so  direct  an  appeal  to  Catholic 
men  as  the  old  Dominican  devotion  of  the  Holy  Name ; 
that  no  society  seemed  to  bind  men  so  effectively  to- 
gether in  their  respective  parishes  as  the  society  of  the 
same  name.  Accordingly,  he  preached  the  Holy 
Name  in  season  and  out  of  season.  Wherever  he 
went,  he  advised  the  pastor,  if  the  law  permitted,  to 
establish  this  society  in  his  church.  Whenever  he 
could,  he  established  it  on  his  missions.  But  he  felt 
that  the  churches  of  his  own  Order,  under  whose  special 
protection  his  cherished  society  had  been  placed  by  the 
Holy  See,  should  be  an  example  to  all  others  in  fos- 
tering a  devotion  at  once  so  Christian  and  so  singu- 


SUCCESS  AND  FAILURE.  109 

larly  suited  to  Catholic  men.  For  this  reason,  Father 
McKenna  spent  much  of  his  time  when  at  home,  in  the 
advancement  of  the  Holy  Name  Society  in  the  parish 
of  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer,  New  York,  of  which  he  had 
been  appointed  spiritual  director — a  position  that  he 
held  until  his  election,  nearly  eight  years  later,  as  prior 
of  the  convent  of  Saint  Louis  Bertrand,  Louisville, 
Kentucky. 

Possibly  because  of  his  practical  knowledge  of  the 
world,  it  did  not  take  the  zealous  priest  long  to  realize 
the  need  of  a  manual  of  prayer  specially  designed  for 
men  of  the  Holy  Name.  To  fill  this  want  he  compiled 
our  present  well  known  English  Manual  of  the  Holy 
Name,  the  first  edition  appearing  late  in  1871.  An- 
other lesson  taught  him  by  his  intimate  contact  with 
the  world  was  that  such  a  manual  should  be  written 
in  the  simplest  language,  that  it  might  be  well  within 
the  mental  grasp  of  untutored  workmen,  the  class  that 
formed  then  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  Catholic 
population  of  the  United  States.  That  the  little 
book  of  devotion  met  the  need  and  filled  the  mission 
for  which  it  was  intended,  is  shown  by  the  many 
editions  through  which  it  has  passed  and  the  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  that  have  been  printed.  Doubt- 
less the  earnest  friar  himself  had  no  idea  of  the  im- 
mense good  accomplished  by  his  unpretentious  little 
volume  until  he  was  called  to  receive  his  eternal  reward. 

Such  were  the  beginnings,  humble  in  their  way,  of 
Father  McKenna's  long  continued  labors  in  the  cause 
of  the  Holy  Name  Society — labors  that  were  to  win 
for  him  the  richly  deserved  title  of  "Apostle  of  the 
Holy  Name  in  the  United  States."  But  of  these  we 
shall  speak  later.  Suffice  it  to  say  here  that  no  one  re- 


110  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

gretted  more  than  Father  McKenna  the  Church's  re- 
strictive legislation  with  regard  to  his  beloved  society 
of  which  we  have  spoken,  and  which  hindered  the  prov- 
ince's efforts  in  the  noble  cause.  He  determined, 
therefore,  to  leave  nothing  undone  to  obtain  a  dispen- 
sation for  America. 

A  true  Dominican,  Father  McKenna  was  keenly  in- 
terested in  the  special  devotions  of  his  Order.  A 
tender  love  for  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  a  striking  trait 
of  his  life.  Her  cause,  he  felt,  should  go  hand  in  hand 
with  that  of  her  Divine  Son,  and  he  was  indefatigable 
in  its  promotion.  Thus  shortly  after  the  appearance 
of  the  Manual  of  the  Holy  Name,  his  zeal  for  the 
furtherance  of  the  great  prayer  and  devotion  to  the 
Mother  of  God  led  him  to  publish  The  Rosary,  The 
Crown  of  Mary — a  little  book  which  has  brought 
spiritual  blessings  to  thousands  of  American  homes. 
The  same  practical  wisdom,  the  same  knowledge  of  the 
needs  of  Catholics  in  the  world,  the  same  simplicity  of 
language  that  have  made  the  Manual  of  the  Holy 
Name  so  popular  also  characterize  this  devotional 
work.  Here,  as  in  all  things  else,  its  author  labored 
not  for  personal  glory,  but  for  the  honor  of  God  and 
His  blessed  Mother — for  the  greater  good  of  the 
greater  number  of  souls.  The  Rosary,  The  Crown 
of  Mary,  because  of  its  wider  field,  met  with  greater 
success  and  has  passed  through  more  editions  than  even 
the  Holy  Name  Manual. 

In  all  his  devotional  and  confraternity  manuals  the 
good  priest  sought  simplicity  rather  than  style ;  his  aim 
was  the  salvation  of  souls,  not  the  attainment  of  a  repu- 
tation in  English  literature.  His  modesty,  in  fact,  was 
such  that  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  sign  his  name 


SUCCESS  AND  FAILURE.  Ill 

to  them.  If,  as  the  Scriptures  assure  us,  "  Out  of  the 
fullness  of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh,"  surely  the 
spirit  of  love  and  religion  that  exhales  from  these  little 
volumes  argues  a  fund  of  piety  in  the  soul  of  their 
author. 

Every  man,  however  gifted,  has  his  limits.  If  he 
has  too  many  irons  in  the  fire,  some  of  them  must  be 
spoiled;  some  of  his  enterprises  are  doomed  to  failure. 
So  it  was  with  our  zealous  Friar  Preacher.  Yet  this 
very  fact  argues  in  his  favor  rather  than  militates 
against  his  reputation.  The  man  who  makes  no  mis- 
takes is  a  man  who  attempts  nothing,  and  therefore 
accomplishes  nothing.  The  life  that  has  had  no 
failures  has  itself  been  a  complete  disaster.  Far  better 
is  it  to  attempt  many  things,  and  to  fail  in  some,  than 
to  undertake  nothing  through  sheer  fear  of  failure. 

Father  McKenna's  early  priestly  zeal,  because  all- 
consuming,  was  many-sided.  Besides  his  missionary 
labors,  his  work  in  the  lecture  field  and  his  endeavors 
in  behalf  of  the  devotions  and  societies  of  the  Holy 
Name,  the  Rosary  and  the  secular  Third  Order  of 
Saint  Dominic,  upon  some  of  which  we  have  touched, 
we  find  him  as  far  back  as  1871  planning  to  build  a 
church  for  the  colored  Catholics  in  the  city  of  New 
York  and  to  establish  a  community  of  Dominican 
Sisters  devoted  to  both  spiritual  and  corporal  works  of 
mercy  among  the  poor  in  the  great  American  metropo- 
lis. But  we  cannot  do  better  than  to  let  the  hard- 
working priest  give  his  own  account  of  these  two  pious 
enterprises : 

"  It  was  in  the  early  days  of  my  priesthood  in  Kentucky  [he 
says]  that  I  began  to  be  interested  in  the  colored  race,  as  it  was 
there  that  I  had  my  first  experience  with  this  people.  The  col- 


112  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

ored  members  of  St.  Rose's  parish  were  good,  practical  Catholics. 
For  a  few  months  before  my  departure  from  St.  Rose's,  in  1870, 
I  had  charge  of  St.  Dominic's  Church  at  Springfield.  While 
pastor  of  this  place  it  was  my  custom  to  preach  to  the  people 
twice  every  Sunday — at  Mass  in  the  morning,  and  at  vespers  in 
the  afternoon.  There  also  the  lately  liberated  slaves,  who 
formed  nearly  half  of  the  congregation,  were  as  faithful  as  their 
white  brethren  in  attending  church  and  in  frequenting  the  sac- 
raments. Some  of  them,  indeed,  proved  to  be  really  saintly  and 
much  given  to  prayer.  Almost  without  exception  they  mani- 
fested a  deep  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God. 

"Late  in  September,  1870,  the  Provincial,  Very  Rev.  F.  J. 
Dunn,  sent  me  from  St.  Rose's  to  St.  Vincent  Ferrer's,  New  York, 
to  become  one  of  the  missionaries  in  the  east.  In  New  York  the 
recollection  of  my  good1  colored  Catholics  in  Kentucky  led  me, 
when  not  away  on  the  missions,  to  inquire  about  the  Catholics  of 
the  same  race  in  the  great  metropolis.  In  this  way  I  found  they 
had  no  church  of  their  own  in  the  city.  Nor  was  there,  as  far 
as  I  could  learn,  any  priest  specially  appointed  to  look  after 
their  spiritual  interests.  It  then  occurred  to  me  that  perhaps 
by  building  a  church  for  them  in  the  part  of  the  city  where 
they  principally  lived,  and  by  giving  them  my  services,  I  could 
do  more  good  than  in  any  other  field  of  labor.  All  this,  of 
course,  was  to  be  dependent  on  the  sanction  of  my  superiors. 
To  learn  the  feasibility  of  the  project  before  proposing  it  to 
competent  authority,  I  spoke  of  it  to  several  colored  Catholics. 
They  appeared  to  be  delighted  with  the  idea  of  having  a  church 
specially  for  their  race;  for,  as  they  said,  many  of  their  people 
were  forsaking  the  faith  simply  because  they  had  no  church  of 
their  own  and  no  priest  whose  particular  duty  it  was  to  look 
after  their  spiritual  welfare.  They  told  me  that  there  were  sev- 
eral clergymen  in  the  city  who  took  a  keen  interest  in  the  colored 
Catholics,  but  who,  because  of  their  other  duties,  could  not  give 
sufficient  time  to  this  work.  Among  others  were  mentioned  the 
names  of  Doctors  McGlynn  and  Burtsell  and  Father  Thomas 


SUCCESS  AND  FAILURE.  113 

Farrell,  pastor  of  St.  Joseph's  Church,  Sixth  Avenue  and  Wash- 
ington Place.  I  then  visited  these  three  clergymen  to  get  their 
views  in  regard  to  a  separate  and  distinct  church  in  the  city 
for  the  descendants  of  Ham.  All  three  warmly  approved  the 
project,  and  each  promised  to  contribute  one  thousand  dollars 
towards  the  building  as  soon  as  its  success  was  assured.  Arch- 
bishop McCloskey,  later  our  first  Cardinal,  also  gave  the  under- 
taking his  cordial  sanction. 

"  One  colored  gentleman,  however,  whom  I  was  advised  to  visit, 
held  views  on  the  plan  quite  different  from  those  of  his  fellow 
Africans.  He  was  a  Catholic,  principal  of  a  school  near  St. 
Stephen's  Church,  and  influential  among  his  people.  He  re- 
ceived me  courteously.  But  when  he  learned  that  the  object  of 
my  visit  was  to  solicit  his  co-operation  in  the  enterprise  of  which 
I  have  spoken,  he  showed  a  decided  opposition  to  such  a  step. 
A  separate  and  distinct  church  for  those  of  his  race,  he  stoutly 
maintained,  would  tend  to  keep  the  whites  and  the  blacks  apart, 
an  evil,  he  said,  with  which  he  would  have  nothing  to  do.  He 
declared  that  the  Church  should  seek  to  unite  the  two  races, 
rather  than  lend  a  hand  to  perpetuating  their  separation. 

"Although  I  did  not  advert  to  it  until  the  project  was  laid 
before  my  superiors,  a  second  thought  would  have  told  me  that 
in  those  days  of  much  missionary  and  other  work  and  few  priests, 
they  would  hardly  be  able  to  spare  my  services  for  such  a  pur- 
pose. While  the  fathers  felt  the  idea  was  a  good  one,  they  could 
not  see  their  way  to  let  me  take  up  the  work  at  that  time.  In 
fact,  I  was  nearly  always  on  the  missions  and  away  from  New 
York.  I  did  not,  however,  cease  to  cherish  the  hope  that  some 
day  the  charge  of  the  colored  Catholics  of  New  York  would  be 
given  to  me  until  a  few  years  later,  when  Rev.  John  E.  Burke 
was  appointed  to  work  among  them  along  the  same  lines  I  had 
mapped  out  for  myself.  Doubtless  Father  Burke's  pronounced 
success  shows  that  the  enterprise  fell  into  more  capable  hands 
than  mine ;  yet  his  success  proves  the  idea  to  have  been  feasible. 
In  later  years  I  had  the  pleasure  of  giving  a  mission  for  colored 
people  in  his  church  on  Bleecker  Street. 
9 


114  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

"  Such,  in  sum  and  substance,  are  my  recollections  of  my  early 
endeavor  to  establish  a  church  for  the  colored  Catholics  in  the 
city  of  New  York."1 

Although  they  progressed  a  little  farther,  the  good 
priest's  zealous  efforts  to  establish  a  community  of  Do- 
minican Sisters  in  New  York,  whose  lives  should  be 
devoted  to  the  aid  of  the  poor,  met  with  no  better  suc- 
cess than  did  his  attempt  to  form  a  congregation  and 
to  build  a  church  for  the  colored  Catholics  of  that  city. 
Of  this  pious  project  Father  McKenna  says: 

"During  occasional  intervals  between  missions,  my  superior 
sometimes  sent  me  to  collect  money  for  the  beautiful  paintings 
on  the  sanctuary  walls  and  the  ceiling  of  St.  Vincent  Ferrer's 
Church.  The  wretched  poverty  that  I  saw  in  the  homes  of 
many  of  our  people  on  my  visits  from  house  to  house  made  a 
strong  appeal  to  my  sympathies.  It  appeared  to  me  that  a  com- 
munity of  our  Third  Order  of  Dominican  Sisters,  whose  voca- 
tion would  be  to  visit  and  take  care  of  the  sick  poor,  to  conduct 
a  day  nursery  where  mothers  compelled  to  labor  for  the  support 
of  their  families  could  leave  their  little  ones  while  at  work,  and 
to  instruct  the  children  of  such  parents,  would  be  an  untold 
blessing  to  the  great  city.  No  act  of  charity,  it  seemed  to  me, 
that  one  could  do  would  be  more  acceptable  to  God.  Accord- 
ingly I  resolved,  if  permitted,  to  form  such  a  community  of 
devoted  women.  Their  work  was  to  be  practically  the  same  as 
that  which  the  Dominican  Sisters  of  the  Sick  Poor,  West  Sixty- 
first  Street,  are  now  doing  with  so  much  success. 

"  The  project  was  proposed  to  Father  Tom  Burke,  then  visi- 
tor to  the  province.  Father  Burke  warmly  approved  it.  Four 

»  This  account  of  his  efforts  to  establish  a  congregation  of  colored  Cath- 
olics In  New  York,  together  with  that  of  his  attempt  to  found  a  community 
of  Dominican  Sisters  for  the  sick  poor  in  that  city,  was  given  the  writer 
some  years  ago  by  Father  McKenna  as  a  matter  of  Dominican  history. 
Father  Burke  is  now  Monsignor  Burke  and  Director  General  of  the  Catho- 
lic Board  for  Work  among  Colored  People. 


SUCCESS  AND  FAILURE.  115 

exemplary  Catholic  ladies  of  mature  age,  one  of  whom  had  con- 
siderable means,  offered  to  devote  their  lives  to  the  good  work; 
and  the  late  Thomas  Crimmins,  a  model  Christian  gentleman, 
tendered  a  house  for  their  temporary  use,  promising,  if  the  pious 
adventure  proved  a  success,  to  make  them  a  donation  of  both  the 
building  and  the  ground  on  which  it  stood.  As  this  seemed  to 
insure  the  outcome  of  the  undertaking,  it  was  submitted  to  Arch- 
bishop McCloskey.  The  saintly  prelate  gave  it  not  only  his 
ready  sanction,  but  his  blessing,  with  the  remark  that  such  an 
institution  could  not  fail  to  do  much  good  in  his  episcopal  city. 
The  little  community  of  Dominican  Sisters  of  the  Poor  then  came 
into  existence,  and  commenced  its  work  on  a  small  scale.  But 
its  life  was  of  short  duration.  Difficulties  that  could  not  be  fore- 
seen arose  and  could  not  be  overcome,  and  the  infant  community 
ceased  to  be.  The  time,  I  suppose,  was  not  ripe  for  such  an 
institution,  or  God  wished  to  punish  me  for  my  sins."2 

Father  McKenna's  absence  from  New  York  on  his 
apostolic  work  was  largely  responsible  for  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  little  community  of  sisters  he  had  started. 
As  God  did  not  perform  a  miracle  to  enable  the  zealous 
priest  to  be  in  many  places  at  once,  he  could  not  be 
both  on  the  missions  and  in  the  great  metropolis  to 
look  after  the  welfare  of  his  infant  branch  of  the 
Third  Order  of  Saint  Dominic.  So  it  failed.  Yet 
that  the  friar's  zeal  ran  along  sane  and  practical  lines 
in  both  these  pious  enterprises  is  shown  by  the  later 
success  of  others  in  the  same  kind  of  work.  No  doubt 
our  missioner  found  a  source  of  consolation  in  thus 
realizing  that  his  plans  were  feasible,  in  spite  of  his 
own  failure  to  carry  them  out.  Likely,  indeed,  his 
efforts  were  father  to  similar  ideas  in  the  minds  of 
others — ideas  that  have  since  borne  rich  fruits.  Of  a 
broad,  magnanimous  spirit,  he  took  a  keen  delight  in 

*  See  preceding  note. 


116  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

the  work  of  Monsignor  Burke  and  in  that  of  the  Do- 
minican Sisters  of  the  Sick  Poor. 

While,  under  some  aspect,  every  failure  is  matter  for 
regret,  one  cannot  but  rejoice  that  Father  McKenna 
did  not  succeed  in  the  two  enterprises  of  which  we  have 
spoken.  Resolute,  energetic  and  generous  as  he  was, 
he  could  never  have  given  them  the  attention  necessary 
for  their  welfare  without  curtailing,  if  not  wholly 
abandoning,  his  activities  in  the  vastly  wider  and  more 
useful  field  of  labor  in  which  he  accomplished  so  much 
for  the  Church  of  America  and  for  the  salvation  of 
souls. 

We  must  now  retrace  our  steps  for  a  moment  to 
take  up  the  thread  of  Father  McKenna's  career  as  a 
missioner,  where  it  was  left  off  to  give  a  further  insight 
into  the  good  priest's  deep  spiritual  life  and  a  passing 
acquaintance  with  his  zealous  efforts  along  other  lines 
of  apostolic  endeavor. 

But,  not  to  tire  the  patience  of  the  reader  with 
frequent  repetitions,  we  shall  refer  to  only  a  few  of 
the  many  missions  in  which  he  took  part,  accounts  of 
which,  in  spite  of  efforts  to  prevent  it,  found  their  way 
into  the  Catholic  papers  of  the  day,  and  show  the 
zealous  priest's  busy  life,  as  well  as  the  success  with 
which  he  met  everywhere  in  the  exercise  of  his  divine 
vocation.  The  milieu  in  which  he  labored  was  helpful 
and  inspiring;  for  noticeable  features  of  all  these  early 
Dominican  missions  are  the  great  crowds  that  attended 
them,  the  fervor  of  the  people,  the  numbers  that  ap- 
proached the  sacraments,  the  universal  satisfaction  the 
fathers  gave  the  pastors  for  whom  they  labored. 

We  have  seen  how  the  year  1872  was  spent  by 
Father  McKenna.  Two  of  the  missions  in  which  he 


SUCCESS  AND  FAILURE.  117 

took  part  towards  the  end  of  the  year,  and  of  which  he 
used  to  speak  as  the  source  of  much  consolation  to  him, 
were  those  given  during  September  and  October,  for 
his  friend,  Rev.  William  J.  Lane,  at  Green  Point,  Long 
Island,  and  for  Rev.  James  Lynch  at  Middletown, 
Connecticut. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  weeks  after  the  Christ- 
mas holidays,  the  early  part  of  1873  was  spent  between 
New  England  and  the  city  and  state  of  New  York,  at 
that  time  the  principal  field  of  the  apostolic  labors  of 
the  Friars  Preacher  in  the  east.  Father  McKenna's 
most  remarkable  mission  at  this  epoch,  however,  was 
that  given  for  Rev.  Robert  J.  McGuire  at  Saint  Paul's, 
Brooklyn,  from  March  23  to  April  6.  As  was  gen- 
erally the  case  at  Saint  Paul's,  a  noticeable  feature  of 
the  mission  was  the  preponderance  of  men  attending 
it.  Many  were  the  wayward  Catholics  reconciled  with 
their  Divine  Master,  and  numerous  the  converts 
brought  into  the  Church.  The  Freeman's  Journal 
again  tells  us  that  "it  would  seem  that,  through  the 
ministry  of  the  white-robed  children  of  St.  Dominic, 
the  Angel  of  Peace  and  Reconciliation  between  God 
and  man  had  been  invoked  upon  this  part  of  Brook- 
lyn."3 

Because  of  the  great  number  of  men  belonging  to 
Saint  Paul's  parish,  Father  McKenna  was  always 
anxious  to  be,  and  usually  was,  one  of  the  number 
delegated  to  conduct  the  annual  mission  long  given  by 
the  Dominicans  in  that  church.  He  was  more  at  home 
among  those  of  his  own  sex,  and  therefore  at  his  best 
when  preaching  to  them.  Thus,  as  Father  McGuire's 
preferences  ran  along  the  same  lines,  our  friar  soon 
became  a  favorite  with  the  pastor  of  Saint  Paul's 

»  Freeman's  Journal,  June  7,  1873. 


118  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Church  and  a  large  part  of  the  congregation.  And 
there  are  reasons  for  believing  that  the  extraordinary 
results  of  this  mission  were  in  no  small  measure  due  to 
Father  McKenna's  efforts. 

The  truth  of  the  homely  old  adage,  "All  work  and 
no  play  does  not  pay"  was  now  to  be  experienced  by 
our  untiring  missioner.  The  health  of  a  number  of 
the  fathers  had  given  way  under  the  terrific  strain  of 
the  missions  before  the  hours  of  confessional  work  were 
wisely  regulated.  Father  McKenna,  however,  had  to 
learn  his  lesson  of  wisdom  through  personal  experience. 
While  he  scrupulously  observed  the  rule  with  regard 
to  the  time  for  hearing  confessions — for  with  him  the 
will  of  his  superiors  was  always  law — his  love  of  work, 
his  laudable  ambition  to  improve  himself,  and  his  zeal 
to  help  souls  impelled  him,  whether  at  home  or  abroad, 
to  set  nature's  law  of  rest  at  naught.  What  with  the 
missions,  the  writing  of  sermons,  lectures  and  books 
of  devotion — and  what  with  his  efforts  to  spread  the 
societies  of  the  Holy  Name  and  the  Rosary,  and  his 
study  for  self -improvement,  the  missionary's  physical 
constitution  was  again  gradually  undermined.  For 
more  than  three  months  prior  to  the  breakdown  of 
which  we  have  now  to  speak,  he  had  had  scarcely  a 
day  that  he  could  call  his  own.  At  Saint  John's, 
Utica,  where  he  aided  on  a  mission  in  late  April  and 
early  May,  he  contracted  a  severe  cold,  but  continued 
at  his  work.  At  Saint  Patrick's,  Troy,  where  he  went 
from  Utica  and  where  his  labors  were  the  greater 
because  one  of  his  two  companions  was  not  a  preacher, 
his  cold  grew  worse,  and  it  was  with  great  difficulty 
he  remained  at  his  post.  At  the  close  of  the  mission 
there,  pneumonia  developed,  bringing  him  to  death's 
door. 


SUCCESS  AND  FAILURE.  119 

After  Father  McKenna's  recovery  from  this  illness 
he  suffered  from  a  continual  and  severe  pain  in  the 
head,  which  the  physicians  pronounced  incipient 
paresis,  induced  by  overwork.  His  condition,  they 
said,  was  beyond  medical  aid;  his  recovery  a  matter  of 
grave  doubt.  It  was  thought,  indeed,  that  the  days 
of  his  zealous  labors  were  at  an  end.  In  the  hope  that 
his  health  might  be  restored  and  his  life  prolonged  for 
the  good  of  the  Church  in  America,  his  superiors  and 
friends  urged  the  sufferer  to  go  on  a  pilgrimage  to 
the  grotto  of  Lourdes  which  had  become  noted  for  its 
miraculous  cures.  The  Holy  Name  men  of  Saint  Vin- 
cent Ferrer's  parish,  as  a  token  of  their  gratitude  for 
the  missionary's  zealous  efforts  in  their  behalf,  made 
up  a  purse  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  journey. 
Quietly  and  unostentatiously,  as  was  his  custom,  he 
sailed  towards  the  end  of  June  for  Queenstown,  Ire- 
land. 

Not  to  tempt  providence  in  its  ruling  of  the  world 
by  the  laws  of  nature,  Father  McKenna,  as  a  theo- 
logian, thought  it  his  duty  to  test  once  more  the  skill 
of  man  before  appealing  to  divine  aid  for  a  miracu- 
lous cure  of  his  ailment.  But,  like  the  physicians  of 
America,  those  of  Ireland  told  him  that  he  was  a 
victim  of  incipient  paresis  and  that  they  could  do  noth- 
ing for  him.  As  a  last  resort  our  humble  friar 
then  continued  his  journey  to  southern  France.  In 
Father  McKenna  were  joined  considerable  learning 
and  the  simple  faith  of  a  Breton  peasant  or  a 
Catholic  Irish  farmer — the  faith  that  has  elicited 
the  most  striking  wonders  of  Lourdes.  May  we 
not  then  believe  that  his  permanent  cure  was  a  re- 
ward for  this  childlike  faith?  As  the  writer  has 


120  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

often  heard  him  say,  he  was  in  constant  torture  through 
all  his  long  journey  up  to  the  moment  he  knelt  in 
fervent  prayer  for  relief  at  the  shrine  of  our  Blessed 
Lady  of  Lourdes.  The  pain  then  ceased  and  was 
never  felt  again. 

Father  McKenna,  needless  to  say,  was  deeply  grate- 
ful for  the  cure  he  had  received,  which,  in  his  simple 
faith,  he  firmly  believed  to  the  day  of  his  death  to  be 
miraculous.  He  remained  for  a  week  at  Lourdes, 
spending  most  of  the  day  at  the  grotto  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  in  heartfelt  prayer  of  thanksgiving  for  his  re- 
covery, and  to  satisfy  his  rare  personal  devotion  to  the 
Mother  of  God.  He  used  to  say  that  this  was  one  of 
the  happiest  weeks  of  his  life. 

From  France  our  missioner  returned  to  his  native 
land  to  visit  his  eldest  brother,  who  still  lived  at  the  old 
homestead  at  Fallalea,  and  whom  he  had  not  seen  since 
he  left  Ireland  twenty-two  years  before.  At  Fallalea 
he  spent  some  time  in  visiting  friends  and  relatives, 
and  in  reviewing  the  scenes  of  his  boyhood  days.  In 
the  little  chapel  at  Glen  he  preached  on  several  occa- 
sions, doubtless  causing  a  sensation  among  the  simple 
country  folk  by  his  eloquence,  as  well  as  a  sentiment  of 
pride  in  those  of  his  kindred.  He  also  preached  in 
Belfast,  Dublin,  Cork  and  other  places.  Everywhere 
he  did  his  best  to  uphold  in  the  Old  World  the  glory 
of  the  Church  and  his  Order  in  the  New.  That  he 
succeeded  those  of  us  who  knew  him  as  a  pulpit  orator 
cannot  doubt. 

When  our  apostolic  friar  returned  to  America  in 
the  fall  of  1873,  he  was  in  the  best  of  health.  As  he 
believed  that  the  Blessed  Virgin,  through  the  interces- 
sion of  the  little  shepherdess  Bernadette,  had  procured 


SUCCESS  AND  FAILURE.  121 

for  him  not  only  this  blessing,  but  strength  to  con- 
tinue his  arduous  labors  in  the  cause  of  religion,  he 
felt  that  in  simple  gratitude,  apart  from  the  prompt- 
ings of  his  own  zeal,  he  should  lose  no  time  in  getting 
back  into  harness.  Accordingly,  he  had  no  sooner 
landed  in  New  York  than  we  find  him  busily  engaged 
in  giving  missions,  in  the  apostolates  of  the  Holy 
Name  and  the  Rosary  societies,  and  in  lecturing  for 
the  instruction  of  the  faithful.  He  had,  however, 
learned  the  wisdom  of  not  unduly  taxing  either  mind 
or  body,  but  it  was  a  lesson  that  he  sometimes  forgot. 

To  follow  the  missionary  in  his  labors  through  the 
rest  of  the  year  1873  were  but  to  repeat  what  has 
already  been  placed  before  the  reader.  But  another 
fact  belonging  to  this  time  deserves  notice  here. 
Father  McKenna,  with  his  keen  appreciation  of  the 
needs  of  people  in  the  world,  realized  that  still  an- 
other religious  manual  was  needed  in  the  work  of  the 
missions.  Prior  to  his  illness  he  had  done  something 
in  filling  this  want.  One  of  his  first  cares,  therefore, 
on  his  return  from  abroad,  was  to  publish  How  to 
make  the  Mission,  a  book  that  gained  an  immediate 
and  great  popularity  which  remains  undiminished  after 
a  lapse  of  more  than  forty  years.  To  this  day  it  is 
not  unusual  for  pastors  to  dispose  of  a  thousand  or 
more  copies  of  it  at  one  mission. 

Like  the  other  devotional  works  from  the  pious 
priest's  pen,  How  to  make  the  Mission  made  no  pre- 
tense to  literary  excellence;  his  sole  object  was  to  reach 
humble  people  in  a  simple  way  and  to  bring  them 
nearer  to  God.  Of  all  Father  McKenna's  practical 
spiritual  writings  How  to  make  the  Mission,  although 
intended  merely  as  an  aid  to  persons  making  a  mis- 


122  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

sion  and  wishing  to  gain  its  fullest  fruits,  possibly 
holds  the  first  place  in  the  good  that  it  has  effected.4 
We  have  spoken  of  these  unpretentious  works  in 
such  minute  detail  because,  to  the  mind  of  the  writer, 
they  can  hardly  be  over-emphasized  in  the  life  of  a 
priest  of  Father  McKenna's  character.  They  show 
the  depth  of  his  piety,  his  zeal  and  the  goodness  of  his 
heart  which  caused  him  ever  to  seek  to  aid  his  fellow- 
man. 

*  The  Sulpician  theologian,  Father  Tanquerey,  recommends  How  to  Make 
the  Mission  for  those  who  need  or  wish  to  make  a  general  confession.  See 
Synopsis  Theologiae  Generalis  (1908),  Vol.  I,  p.  203. 


CHAPTER    X. 

INFLUENCE  OF  FATHER  "TOM"  BURKE. 
(1871-1873) 

THE  period  from  October,  1871,  to  February,  1873, 
was  a  period  of  magnificent  opportunity  for  Father 
McKenna — one  of  which  he  was  not  slow  to  take  ad- 
vantage. Coming  as  it  did  at  a  most  seasonable  time 
(in  the  early  years  of  his  life  as  a  missioner  and  public 
speaker,  and  when  experience  had  taught  him  how  to 
study  it  with  profit),  he  derived  from  it  great  and 
lasting  benefits.  This  was  the  presence  in  the  country 
of  the  illustrious  Irish  Dominican,  Father  "Tom" 
Burke.  But  to  give  the  reader  a  clear  idea  of  the  in- 
fluence exercised  on  our  friar  by  Father  Burke  de- 
mands a  brief  word  on  the  great  orator's  mission  and 
labors  in  the  United  States. 

The  constitution  of  the  Friars  Preacher  ordain  that 
their  Masters  General  should  make,  or  cause  to  be 
made,  from  time  to  time  a  visit  of  inspection  to  the 
various  provinces  of  the  Order.  This  visit  is  supposed 
to  be  made  to  each  province  at  least  once  during  the 
term  of  office  of  every  Father  General — twelve  years. 
The  General  himself,  should  if  possible,  perform  this 
onerous  duty.  But  if  unable  to  do  it  personally,  or  if 
for  any  good  reason  he  deems  it  expedient,  he  may 
delegate  another  member  of  the  Order  to  act  in  his 
name  and  with  his  authority.  Prior  to  the  period  of 
which  we  speak,  however,  only  one  such  visitation  of 
the  Province  of  Saint  Joseph  had  been  made.  This 

123 


124  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

was  in  1852,  when  Father  Robert  A.  White,  of  the 
province  of  Ireland  and  an  assistant  of  the  Most  Rev. 
Vincent  Jandel,  was  sent  to  the  United  States  as  visi- 
tor. At  the  chapter  held  at  Ghent,  in  1871,  it  was 
decided  to  give  our  American  province  a  second  visita- 
tion, and  the  honor  of  making  it  was  bestowed  on  the 
great  preacher,  Father  Thomas  Burke,  who  was  the 
Irish  definitor  at  that  chapter. 

Father  Burke  arrived  in  New  York  in  the  October 
of  1871.  Although  both  at  home  and  in  Rome,  where 
he  had  resided  many  years,  he  was  known  as  a  great 
pulpit  orator,  he  came  to  America  unheralded  and 
without  flare  of  torch  or  blare  of  trumpet.  His 
humility  caused  him  to  seek  to  avoid  public  notice 
rather  than  to  attract  it.  He  came  quietly  and  went 
unostentatiously  about  the  mission  on  which  he  had 
been  sent  to  America.  That  he  was  here,  or  why  he 
had  come,  few,  if  any,  outside  the  Order  knew.  While 
making  his  visitation  he  was  requested  to  preach  in 
the  different  churches  of  the  Order.  Wherever  he 
preached,  his  sermons  produced  the  profoundest  im- 
pression. The  people,  knowing  most  of  the  older 
American  fathers,  wondered  who  was  the  new  light 
that  had  come  among  them.  It  was  in  this  way  that 
the  public  gradually  became  aware  of  Father  Burke's 
presence  and  mission  in  the  United  States.  But  it  was 
not  until  he  had  been  in  America  for  some  months — 
not,  indeed,  until  he  had  practically  finished  his  work 
in  Kentucky  and  Ohio  and  in  the  cities  of  New  York 
and  Washington — that  the  country  at  large  awoke  ta 
the  fact  that  a  scholar  and  an  orator  of  the  first  mag- 
nitude was  in  their  midst. 

When  Father  Burke's  mission  to  America  was  prac- 


INFLUENCE  OF  FATHER  TOM  BURKE.         125 

tically  completed,  the  fathers  of  the  province  per- 
suaded him  to  prolong  his  stay  with  them  to  aid  in 
some  pressing  missionary  work  and  to  preach  a  course 
of  Lenten  sermons  in  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's  Church, 
New  York,  during  February  and  March,  1872.  It 
was  largely  through  these  that  Father  Burke  rose  so 
rapidly  to  the  zenith  of  his  glory  in  the  United  States 
— a  glory  that  will  not  dim  with  the  passage  of  time. 
Hardly  had  be  begun  his  course  of  Lenten  sermons 
when  pressing  invitations  for  discourses  or  lectures 
began  to  pour  in  upon  him  not  merely  from  pastors  of 
the  great  metropolis,  but  from  far  and  wide.  It  was 
then  that  both  Father  Burke  and  his  American  breth- 
ren realized  the  great  good  he  might  accomplish  for 
the  Church  here  through  his  rare  oratorical  gifts. 
Humble  and  diffident  as  he  was,  his  zeal  and  kindly 
heart  disposed  him  to  accept  some  of  these  invitations 
— especially  those  that  were  in  the  interest  of  charity. 
In  this  he  was  encouraged  by  the  fathers  of  the  prov- 
ince, who  were  anxious  that  their  country  should  profit 
further  from  the  extraordinary  talents  of  one  of  their 
Order.  Among  the  keenest  advocates  of  this  project 
was  Rev.  Charles  H.  McKenna.  It  was  not  effected, 
however,  without  its  difficulties.  On  the  one  hand,  the 
constitutions  of  the  Dominicans  limit  the  authority  of 
a  visitor,  unless  the  time  is  extended,  to  one  year ;  and, 
on  the  other,  Father  Burke  had  arranged  to  remain  in 
America  for  only  a  few  months,  and  had  intended  to 
preach  but  rarely,  if  at  all.  To  overcome  these  diffi- 
culties, Father  Burke,  at  the  urgent  solicitation  of  his 
American  brethren,  wrote  to  his  superior  at  Rome  for  a 
longer  leave  of  absence.  Father  Jandel  not  merely 
granted  this,  but  authorized  him  to  remain  in  the 


126  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

United  States  until  recalled.  This  fortunate  circum- 
stance afforded  hundreds  of  thousands  of  our  people 
the  rare  privilege  of  listening  to  oratory  such  as  they 
had  never  heard. 

Father  Burke,  during  his  stay  in  America,  preached 
and  lectured  from  Boston  to  Chicago,  and  from  Chi- 
cago to  New  Orleans.  Wherever  he  went,  the  largest 
churches  or  halls  were  engaged  for  his  sermons  and 
lectures.  But  the  greatest  auditoriums  were  often  far 
too  small  to  hold  the  thousands  who  came  to  hear  him. 
Not  infrequently  as  many  had  to  be  turned  away  as 
were  admitted.  Often  many  remained  for  hours  out- 
side the  place  where  he  spoke,  in  the  hope  of  getting  a 
look  at  the  great  orator  of  the  day.  The  public  prints, 
both  religious  and  secular,  gave  the  most  enthusiastic 
accounts  of  his  sermons  and  lectures.  It  is  safe  to 
say  that  no  orator,  whether  cleric  or  lay,  native  or 
foreign,  was  ever  accorded  a  heartier  or  warmer  ova- 
tion, or  aroused  a  deeper  or  a  more  general  interest  in 
America  than  Father  Burke.  And  this  is  all  the  more 
extraordinary,  as  there  was  no  great  political  issue  or 
religious  controversy  to  excite  passion  or  to  arouse 
prejudice. 

The  great  orator's  controversy  with  James  Anthony 
Froude,  it  is  true,  created  a  greater  sensation  than 
any  of  his  sermons  or  lectures.  But  this  was  due  to 
the  reputation  of  his  antagonist,  the  exciting  circum- 
stances and  result  of  the  intellectual  bout,  and  a  curi- 
osity to  know  how  the  great  friar  would  acquit  him- 
self in  a  role  so  completely  new  to  him,  rather  than  to 
any  greater  display  of  talent  or  oratory,  far  above  the 
ordinary  though  they  were.  While  the  English  his- 
torian's defeat  was  so  complete  that  he  sought  refuge 


INFLUENCE  OF  FATHER  TOM  BURKE.         127 

in  precipitate  flight  from  the  country,  some  unknown 
influence,  it  is  generally  admitted,  stayed  the  friar's 
hand  and  prevented  him  from  dealing  his  opponent  far 
more  telling  blows.  Had  the  historic  controversy 
never  occurred,  Father  Burke's  reputation  would  still 
remain  undiminished.  His  sermons  and  lectures  would 
still  place  him  in  the  front  rank  of  the  world's  orators.1 
In  Europe  Father  Burke  had  attained  pre-eminence 
as  a  pulpit  orator.  But  in  America,  where  he  found 
a  field  at  once  broader  and  better  suited  to  his  genius, 
he  rapidly  rose  to  undying  fame.  As  a  result  of  his 
sojourn  of  barely  sixteen  months  here,  he  became  to 
the  pulpit  of  the  English-speaking  world  what  Bossuet 
and  Lacordaire  are  to  the  pulpit  of  France.  In 
studying  Father  Burke  in  the  United  States  one  is  at 
a  loss  which  to  admire  the  most,  his  great  oratorical 
powers,  his  versatility,  his  extraordinary  endurance,  his 
command  over  his  audience,  his  charity,  his  deep  re- 
ligious spirit,  or  the  humility  with  which  he  bore  the 
honors  that  came  to  him.  He  preached  on  almost 
every  imaginable  topic.  People  of  all  creeds  and  of 
every  walk  in  life  went  to  hear  him.  Whatever  their 
creed,  whether  they  were  learned  or  unlettered,  their 
verdict  was  ever  the  same :  they  had  not  heard  his  like. 
He  preached  and  lectured  on  different  subjects  as 
often  as  three  times  in  one  day — often  in  different 

i  Father  Burke  was  very  loath  to  take  up  the  cudgels  with  Mr.  Froude — 
not  from  any  fear  of  his  antagonist,  but  because  he  shrank  from  the  public 
notoriety  which  it  would  bring  upon  him,  and  because  he  was  unwilling  to 
cancel  any  of  his  many  engagements.  The  plea  of  his  friends,  however, 
that  he  come  to  the  defense  of  his  religion  and  his  country  finally  induced 
him  to  enter  into  the  arena  of  controversy.  The  victory  over  Froude  was 
all  the  more  remarkable  because,  as  Father  Burke  continued  to  preach  and 
lecture  daily,  he  had  little  time  to  prepare,  while  the  English  historian  had 
had  exceptional  opportunities  to  gather  his  matter  and  had  come  to  America 
primed  to  the  teeth. 


128  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

cities.  Nearly  all  his  labors  were  in  behalf  of  Catho- 
lic charities.2  All  in  all,  perhaps  the  country  has  not 
seen  his  equal.  If  ever  a  Catholic  Temple  of  Fame  is 
erected  in  the  United  States,  one  of  its  most  conspicu- 
ous niches  should  be  assigned  to  Father  Tom  Burke, 
although  his  connection  with  the  Church  in  America 
was  both  transient  and  accidental. 

Such  was  the  man  whose  brief  stay  in  America  exer- 
cised a  beneficial  and  lasting  influence  on  the  subject 
of  this  biography.  Father  McKenna  heard  with  keen 
delight  that  Father  Burke  had  been  appointed  visitor 
to  the  province,  and  hastened  to  give  him  a  warm 
welcome  on  his  arrival  in  New  York.  One  of  the  first 
things  to  appeal  to  our  zealous  friar  was  the  visitor's 
open  sympathy  with  the  life  of  his  American  brethren 
and  his  strong  approval  of  their  missionary  labors. 
Besides,  as  the  two  men  had  much  in  common,  a  bond 
of  close  friendship  and  confidence  soon  arose  between 
them.  It  was  not  long,  indeed,  before  Burke  began 
to  exert  a  fascinating  influence  on  his  younger  con- 
frere. Coming  as  it  did  in  the  early  years  of  his  long 
priestly  and  missionary  career,  the  value  of  this  in- 
fluence upon  the  life-work  of  Rev.  Charles  H.  Mc- 
Kenna can  hardly  be  overestimated. 

2  The  variety  and  extent  of  Father  Burke's  gifts  almost  tax  one's  credi- 
bility. Nearly  all  his  hundreds  of  sermons  and  lectures  were  in  behalf  of 
American  Catholic  charities.  It  speaks  well  for  his  disinterestedness  that 
he  lectured  but  three  times  for  the  benefit  of  his  Order,  and  then  it  was  at 
the  request  of  others,  and  when  the  stress  of  poverty  demanded  his  atten- 
tion. Many  prominent  Catholics  of  New  York,  whose  gratitude  prompted 
them  to  do  something  for  the  man  who  had  done  so  much  for  the  Church 
in  America,  requested  him  to  deliver  three  lectures  for  his  Order.  It  was 
intended  that  the  proceeds  of  these  lectures  should  be  used  in  building  the 
church  and  priory  of  Saint  Saviour,  Dublin.  But  Father  Burke  insisted 
that  one  of  them  should  be  for  the  benefit  of  Saint  Louis  Bertrand's,  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  which  he  had  found  so  heavily  in  debt. 


INFLUENCE  OF  FATHER  TOM  BURKE.         129 

Himself  possessed  of  rare  oratorical  talents,  no  man 
had  a  keener  appreciation  of  Burke's  merits  than 
Father  McKenna.  Occupied  as  he  was  on  the  mis- 
sions, it  was  often  out  of  his  power  to  attend  the 
sermons  or  lectures  of  the  great  Irish  Dominican. 
Fortunately,  however,  the  greater  number  of  these 
were  delivered  in  the  east,  where  McKenna  was  en- 
gaged, and  whenever  it  was  possible  he  never  failed  to 
hear  them.  On  these  occasions  he  seriously  studied  at 
first-hand  the  man,  his  manner,  his  gestures,  his  line 
of  thought,  his  language,  his  method  of  delivery — in 
short,  all  that  went  to  make  the  great  orator.  He 
read  and  re-read  Burke's  sermons  and  lectures  until 
he  had  them  almost  at  his  fingers'  tips.  Inspired  with  the 
true  zeal  of  a  Friar  Preacher,  he  thought  only  of  per- 
fecting his  preaching  with  a  view  of  greater  good  to 
the  Church  and  souls. 

Father  Burke  was  a  saintly  priest  and  a  model  re- 
ligious. Under  the  cloak  of  brilliant  talents,  salient 
wit,  a  kindly  heart  and  a  whole-souled  geniality  that 
made  him  a  most  loveable  companion,  was  hidden  a 
deeply  mortified  spirit  known  only  to  those  with  whom 
he  came  into  intimate  contact.  It  is  said  that  in 
obedience  and  humility  he  followed  closely  in  the  foot- 
steps of  his  patron  saint,  Thomas  of  Aquin,  the  exem- 
plar according  to  which  he  strove  to  pattern  his  life. 
The  hallowed  memory  of  his  many  virtues  is  cherished 
by  his  brethren  of  the  provinces  of  Ireland,  England 
and  the  United  States.  The  church  at  Tallaght,  Ire- 
land, in  which  he  is  buried,  and  where  an  altar  is 
erected  over  his  remains,  is  regarded  almost  as  a  place 
of  pilgrimage. 

It  was  probably  through  his  private  life  as  a  priest 
10 


130  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

and  religious  that  Father  Burke  exercised  his  greatest 
influence  on  our  American  missioner.  The  two  friends 
were  often  together.  Through  close  study  at  short 
range  the  real  character  of  Burke  was  revealed.  To 
one  of  Father  McKenna's  deeply  religious  and  sus- 
ceptible nature,  piety  and  humility  made  a  far  stronger 
appeal  than  genius  or  eloquence.  When  all  these  were 
found  in  one  person,  as  they  were  in  Father  Burke, 
the  influence  was  magnetic  and  irresistible.  To  the 
end  of  his  long  life  Father  McKenna  never  tired  of 
speaking  of  Father  Burke,  or  of  recounting  the  great 
qualities  of  the  man.  He  thanked  God  that  he  had 
been  blessed  with  the  opportunity  to  study  closely  both 
the  public  and  the  private  life  of  the  man  from  whom 
he  felt  that  he  had  received  many  blessings. 


CHAPTER    XL 

THE  MISSIONS. 
(1874-1875) 

FROM  1866,  when  they  first  began  organized  work  on 
a  large  scale  in  this  field  of  apostolic  labor,  the  Do- 
minicans had  enjoyed  an  enviable  reputation  for  effi- 
ciency in  conducting  parochial  missions.  Yet,  while 
they  had  come  conspicuously  to  the  forefront  as  mis- 
sioners  prior  to  the  arrival  of  Father  Burke,  it  cannot 
be  denied,  we  think,  that  the  phenomenal  career  of 
the  brilliant  Irish  Friar  Preacher  in  the  United  States, 
brief  as  it  was,  not  only  gave  added  impetus  to  the  zeal 
of  his  American  brethren,  but  served  to  attract  the  at- 
tention of  the  country  still  more  to  their  work. 

Numbers  of  eastern  Catholics,  both  lay  and  clerical, 
have  expressed  to  the  writer  their  conviction  that  the 
advent  of  the  great  Irish  friar  was  a  most  fortunate 
circumstance  in  the  life  of  our  missioner.  In  their 
opinion,  the  sensation  created  by  the  genius  of  Burke 
went  far,  after  his  return  to  Europe,  towards  arous- 
ing the  interest  of  the  east  in  the  zeal  and  eloquence 
of  McKenna,  who,  although  he  was  then  but  a  be- 
ginner, had  shown  talents  of  a  notably  superior  order. 
Thus,  they  argued,  he  rose  to  renown  more  rapidly 
than  would  have  been  possible  otherwise.  Be  this  as 
it  may,  once  he  had  gained  the  reputation  of  being 
one  of  the  leading  pulpit  orators  of  the  country,  he 
maintained  that  reputation — as  also  his  hold  on  the 

131 


132  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

country's  esteem  and  affection — practically  to  the  end 
of  his  long  life. 

If  the  opinion  given  above  be  correct,  we  have  now 
arrived  at  the  time  when  the  effect  of  Father  Burke's 
influence  in  favor  of  his  friend  began  to  be  apparent. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Father  McKenna  had  at 
this  period  begun  to  reap  the  fruit  of  his  close  study  of 
the  distinguished  foreign  Dominican.  It  was  a  study 
from  which  the  Church  in  the  United  States,  whether 
we  consider  it  from  an  historical  point  of  view  or  from 
that  of  the  salvation  of  souls,  was  to  receive  no  small 
blessing. 

The  provincial  and  superiors,  fearful  of  another 
breakdown,  sought  to  spare  the  zealous  priest  by  as- 
signing him  to  fewer  missions  during  the  year  follow- 
ing his  illness.  But  while  he  bowed  without  complaint 
to  the  will  of  those  whom  God  had  placed  over  him, 
as  was  the  invariable  rule  of  his  long,  exemplary  re- 
ligious life,  he  often  felt  like  fretting  under  the  restric- 
tions placed  upon  him,  which  sometimes  prevented  him 
from  doing  work  which  he  believed  he  could  accom- 
plish without  endangering  his  health.  But  the  time 
not  given  to  the  missions  was  not  time  lost  by  the  in- 
dustrious friar.  It  was  devoted  to  serious  study,  to 
reading,  to  preparation  of  sermons  and  lectures,  and  to 
the  extension  of  the  Rosary  and  Holy  Name  sodali- 
ties, particularly  those  of  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's 
Church,  where  he  still  remained  the  spiritual  director 
of  the  local  Holy  Name  Society.  Thus  the  year  1874, 
notwithstanding  the  leniency  of  his  superiors,  was  rich 
in  fruitage.  And  the  year  1875,  as  we  have  often 
heard  him  say,  he  considered  one  of  the  busiest  of  his 
life. 


THE  MISSIONS.  133 

The  priests  and  people  of  Brooklyn,  it  seems,  had 
become  quite  partial  to  the  Dominicans  as  mission- 
aries. Two  missions  given  by  them  in  that  city  early 
in  1874  deserve  passing  comment.  In  both  of  them 
Father  McKenna  took  a  conspicuous  part.  The  first 
was  given  for  Rev.  Edward  O'Reilly  at  the  church  of 
Saint  Stephen  in  the  month  of  March.  It  was  most 
successful.  The  stately  edifice  was  packed  from  the 
opening  to  the  end  of  the  spiritual  exercises,  and  thou- 
sands approached  the  sacraments.  It  was  closed  with 
an  interesting  ceremony.  The  delighted  pastor,  to 
commemorate  the  success  of  his  great  parochial  mis- 
sion, lighted  for  the  first  time  an  illuminated  cross  that 
surmounted  the  lofty  steeple  of  his  church,  and  that 
was  long  considered  one  of  the  sights  of  Brooklyn. 

The  other  was  the  annual  mission  of  the  fathers  at 
Saint  Paul's,  where,  in  spite  of  the  little  time  that  had 
elapsed  since  the  previous  mission,  immense  throngs 
gathered  to  attend  the  spiritual  exercises  and  to  hear 
the  sermons.  Seven  thousand  persons  approached  the 
sacraments.  An  interesting  feature  of  this  mission  de- 
serves to  be  recorded  in  our  biography,  because  it 
brings  into  view  another  salient  characteristic  of  Father 
McKenna's  many-sided  zeal.  A  Christ-like  trait  of 
our  gentle  friar  was  his  great  love  for  children.  He 
believed  with  his  Divine  Master,  that  "of  such  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  He  was  in  raptures,  therefore, 
when  he  heard  that  seven  hundred  children  would  make 
the  mission  and  that  the  spiritual  exercises  for  these 
little  ones  were  to  be  entrusted  principally  to  him. 
Father  McKenna's  heart  went  out  to  his  youthful 
audience  and  he  left  nothing  undone  to  enkindle  in 
their  tender  souls  a  genuine  love  of  God — to  implant 


134  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

in  their  plastic  minds  sound  principles  of  religious 
devotion.  The  account  of  the  mission  tells  us  that  it 
was  inspiring  to  see  the  devotion  with  which  these 
young  people  received  the  sacrament  that  makes  us 
soldiers  of  Christ.  Their  fervor  made  so  strong  an 
impression  on  Father  McKenna  himself  that  he  ever 
retained  a  vivid  recollection  of  the  mission.  But  a 
short  time,  indeed,  before  his  death — more  than  forty 
years  afterwards — he  spoke  of  it  to  the  writer. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  mission  work,  it  was 
Father  McKenna's  custom  to  join  his  efforts  with 
those  of  his  confreres  to  induce  the  pastors  for  whom 
they  labored  to  have  special  exercises  for  the  children. 
It  is  likely,  indeed,  that  his  zeal  in  this  regard  con- 
tributed much  towards  the  establishment  of  the  prac- 
tice which  is  now  almost  universal,  of  devoting  a  part 
of  every  mission  to  the  youth  of  the  parish.  On  such 
occasions  it  was  a  source  of  unfeigned  happiness  to  the 
good  missioner  to  give  his  youthful  audiences  simple 
exhortations  suited  to  their  age  and  mental  develop- 
ment. No  less  did  they  delight  in  listening  to  the 
earnest  admonitions  of  the  fatherly  Dominican.  At 
first,  because  of  his  naturally  severe  countenance,  his 
"dear  little  ones,"  as  he  was  wont  to  call  them,  might 
be  timid  and  shy;  but  he  knew  how  to  win  their  hearts. 
The  assuring  voice,  the  kindly  words,  the  engaging 
manners  of  the  whole-souled  priest  soon  caused  them 
not  only  to  forget  their  fear,  but  to  wish  to  draw  nearer 
to  the  speaker.  The  glowing  accounts  which  they 
carried  home  had  their  effect  on  the  parents,  bringing 
them  to  the  mission  in  increased  numbers.  God  alone 
knows  the  good  the  zealous  friar  effected  through  his 
familiar  talks  with  children  on  the  missions. 


THE  MISSIONS.  135 

But  it  was  the  older  boy  and  the  young  man  who 
came  most  fully  under  Father  McKenna's  influence. 
It  was  a  tonic  to  the  good  missionary's  soul  to  address 
these  two  classes,  to  speak  familiarly  with  them,  to  give 
them  advice  and  encouragement.  His  heart  went  out 
to  them,  for  he  felt  that  in  these  lay  possibilities  for 
good  that  were  lasting  and  far-reaching.  A  priest, 
he  believed,  could  devote  his  sacred  ministry  to  no 
nobler  work  than  that  of  winning  the  affections  and 
the  confidence  of  young  men,  of  quickening  their  faith, 
or  of  guiding  boys  approaching  manhood  safely 
through  that  dangerous  period  when  evil  habits  are 
so  easily  contracted.  In  this,  too,  it  is  safe  to  say  he 
had  learned  a  practical  lesson  from  his  contact  with 
the  world  in  his  early  life. 

No  doubt  it  was  in  the  Dominican  apostle's  love  for 
boys  and  young  men,  and  in  his  interest  in  their  spirit- 
ual welfare,  that  lay  the  secret  of  his  success  in  devel- 
oping vocations.  Few,  if  any,  Catholic  clergymen  in 
the  United  States  have  been  instrumental  in  bringing 
greater  numbers  into  the  priesthood  than  Rev.  Charles 
H.  McKenna,  whose  zeal  in  this  regard  began  to  bear 
fruit  about  the  time  of  which  we  now  write.  But  of 
this  we  shall  speak  in  subsequent  chapters. 

In  the  Brooklyn  Catholic  Review  of  March  27,  1875, 
we  find  an  interesting  account  of  another  extraordi- 
nary mission  given  at  Saint  Paul's  in  that  city.  This 
was  a  mission  of  which  the  writer  has  often  heard 
Father  McKenna  speak.  Singling  out  the  missionary 
for  special  mention,  the  Review's  correspondent  thus 
pictures  him  engaged  in  his  favorite  work  of  gathering 
young  men  to  Christ :  "  Father  McKenna,  another  of 
the  band,  lectures  most  effectually  for  the  young,  and 


136  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

the  crowd  of  young  men  gathered  around  him  to  be 
received  into  the  Holy  Name  Society  is  an  evidence  of 
how  they  appreciated  his  work." 

The  labors  of  Father  McKenna  and  his  companions 
at  this  mission  may  readily  be  imagined  when  it  is  re- 
membered that  it  lasted  but  two  weeks,  that  only  five 
priests  were  engaged  on  it,  and  that  fifteen  thousand 
persons  received  holy  communion.  These  labors, 
however,  were  not  unusual,  but  merely  a  specimen  of 
the  work  carried  on  by  the  fathers  the  greater  part  of 
the  year.  Similarly,  the  efforts  of  Father  McKenna  in 
behalf  of  the  young  people  of  Saint  Paul's  parish 
were  but  a  repetition  of  what  was  done  by  him  at 
practically  every  mission  in  which  he  took  part. 

Wherever  in  his  wide  travels  the  good  missionary 
established  the  Holy  Name  Society  or  found  it  in  exist- 
ence, he  exerted  all  his  energy  to  enlist  the  interest 
of  the  young  men  in  its  cause,  and  to  have  them  enroll 
their  names  as  active  members.  For  children  he  urged 
the  sodality  of  Saint  Thomas  of  Aquin,  commonly 
known  as  the  Angelic  Warfare.  He  felt  that  no 
more  appropriate  patron  could  be  placed  over  the  in- 
nocence of  youth  than  the  great  Dominican  saint  whose 
extraordinary  purity  of  soul,  no  less  than  his  luminous 
intellect,  has  caused  him  to  be  likened  to  the  angels 
and  to  be  known  as  the  Angelic  Doctor. 

Largely  through  the  advocacy  of  Father  McKenna 
the  Angelic  Warfare  has  gained  a  wide  popularity  in 
many  parts  of  the  United  States.  Thousands  upon 
thousands  of  children  throughout  the  country  have 
been  enrolled  in  it.  Seeing  that  for  these  also  a  re- 
ligious manual  would  be  of  much  service,  he  compiled 
for  their  use  and  guidance,  as  also  for  that  of  their 


THE  MISSIONS.  137 

spiritual  directors,  The  Angelic  Guide,  containing  the 
history  of  the  society,  the  rules  and  conditions  of  mem- 
bership, prayers,  hymns,  and  the  devotion  of  the  six 
Sundays  in  honor  of  Saint  Thomas.  This  little  book, 
like  Father  McKenna's  other  religious  works,  has 
gone  through  many  reprints  and  editions,  and  has 
found  readers  in  great  numbers. 

But  our  missionary's  zeal  did  not  stop  here.  It  was 
such  a  zeal  that  it  caused  him  to  be  ever  on  the  alert 
to  learn  where  and  how  more  good  might  be  done, 
how  the  interest  of  souls  might  be  further  advanced. 
With  his  keen  insight  into  human  nature,  he  realized 
that  in  the  things  of  the  soul,  no  less  than  in  those  of 
the  world,  much  depends  on  sustained  organization. 
He  realized,  too,  that  as  youth  is  trained  so  it  will  de- 
velop; that,  therefore,  coordination  of  sodalities  from 
childhood  to  the  years  of  manhood  and  womanhood  is 
the  surest  way  of  sustaining  and  advancing  the  socie- 
ties of  a  parish  and  furthering  the  spiritual  welfare  of 
a  congregation.  Thus  about  this  time  we  find  Father 
McKenna,  as  an  inducement  to  pastors  to  establish  the 
confraternity,  advocating  the  Angelic  Warfare,  apart 
from  its  own  intrinsic  merits,  as  a  feeder  for  young 
ladies'  sodalities  and  the  Junior  Holy  Name  Society. 
The  latter  he  urged,  in  turn,  as  a  most  effective  means 
of  fostering  and  perpetuating  the  Holy  Name  for  men. 
The  great  good  he  accomplished  in  the  course  of  his 
long  and  active  life  through  earnest  promotion  of  re- 
ligious societies  cannot  be  overestimated. 

It  was  in  pursuance  of  this  purpose  that,  in  1875, 
our  missioner  published  the  Dominican  Manual. 
This  work,  although  intended  primarily  for  the  young 
and  for  Holy  Name  men,  contains  in  its  three  hundred 


138  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

and  fifty  pages,  besides  rules  and  regulations  for  the 
Holy  Name  Society  and  the  Angelic  Warfare,  prayers 
and  devotions  for  members  of  the  Third  Order  of 
Saint  Dominic,  rosarians  and  the  faithful  in  general. 
The  Dominican  Manual  also  met  with  great  suc- 
cess, particularly  in  the  many  parishes  under  the  guid- 
ance of  his  Order. 

But  it  is  now  time  to  give  the  reader  an  idea  of 
Father  McKenna's  preaching  and  sermons  at  this 
period  of  his  life.  While  he  possessed  considerable 
erudition,  some  maintained  that  the  secret  of  his  suc- 
cess as  a  preacher  lay  rather  in  his  extraordinary  per- 
sonality, his  earnestness  and  in  his  inimitably  effective 
way  of  saying  things  than  in  what  he  said.  His  life 
was,  indeed,  a  striking  example  of  what  he  preached. 
A  rough  sketch  of  a  sermon  on  fraternal  charity  which 
was  found  among  his  effects,  and  which  we  think  must 
have  been  written  about  this  time,  not  only  reflects  the 
divine  charity  that  quickened  his  soul,  but  presents  a 
fair  sample  of  his  Sunday  and  missionary  discourses. 
Taking  as  his  text  John  XIII,  34 :  "A  new  command- 
ment I  give  you;  that  you  love  one  another  as  I  have 
loved  you,"  the  holy  friar  proceeds  to  say: 

"  There  is  not,  perhaps,  in  all  the  life  of  our  Divine  Lord,  as 
recorded  by  the  four  evangelists,  a  more  beautiful  or  impressive 
passage,  nor  one  that  more  clearly  expresses  the  true  character 
of  our  Christian  religion,  than  that  which  I  have  just  quoted 
from  Christ's  farewell  discourse  to  His  beloved  disciples.  The 
Saviour,  as  St.  John  tells  us  again,  having  loved  His  own  who 
were  in  the  world,  loved  them  to  the  end.  He  prayed  the  Heav- 
enly Father  to  keep  them  in  His  sacred  name.  He  prayed  that 
where  He  was,  there  also  might  they  be.  He  had  humbled  Him- 
self before  the  apostles  and  the  disciples ;  He  had  humbled  Him- 


THE  MISSIONS.  139 

self  for  them.  He  had  taught  them  the  truth  of  the  Father, 
shown  them  the  way  to  heaven,  given  them  the  bread  of  life 
eternal.  He  had  promised  to  remain  always  with  them  in  truth 
and  in  spirit;  had  told  them  that  He  was  to  lay  down  His  life 
for  them.  What  more,  one  might  say,  could  He  do  for  them? 
What  further  doctrine  had  He  to  teach  them?  Yet,  now  that 
He  is  about  to  bid  farewell  to  His  chosen  ones,  He  gives  them  a 
fuller  manifestation  of  His  divine  will.  As  a  last  bequest  He 
gives  them  a  new  commandment.  And  what,  my  brethren,  would 
you  imagine  this  commandment  to  be?  Would  you  think  that  it 
was  that  they  should  fast  and  pray  ?  No,  no !  Our  Lord  knew 
well  they  would  do  this  when  He  had  returned  to  His  Heavenly 
Father.  He  had  taught  them  to  pray,  to  fast,  to  mortify  them- 
selves. He  had  set  them  an  example  which  He  knew  they  would 
imitate.  Might  the  new  commandment,  then,  be  that  they 
should  offer  themselves  as  a  sacrifice  for  Him,  even  as  He  was 
about  to  offer  Himself  for  them  ?  No,  it  was  not  even  this.  The 
Master  knew  also  that  the  apostolic  college  were  to  win  the  mar- 
tyr's crown;  that,  like  Himself,  they  were  to  drink  the  chalice 
to  the  dregs.  Possibly,  indeed,  they  also  had  now  learned  to 
expect  such  an  oblation  of  themselves.  This,  therefore,  was  not 
the  new  commandment  of  Jesus.  Shall  I  tell  you  what  it  was? 
Shall  I  tell  you  that  it  was  more  than  to  die  for  Christ?  To  die 
for  our  Lord,  who  first  offered  His  life  for  us,  although  heroic 
in  the  extreme,  were  an  honor,  a  privilege,  a  grace  granted  only 
to  the  chosen  few.  But  to  die,  if  necessary,  for  our  equals ;  nay, 
for  our  inferiors:  ah,  this  is  hard  for  human  nature.  To  obey 
such  a  command  for  Christ's  sake  is,  indeed,  a  proof  of  fidelity 
to  Him.  Yet  it  would  seem  that,  for  the  apostles  at  least,  this 
was  the  new  commandment  which  the  Master  held  in  reserve  to 
be  the  last  given  them.  '  A  new  commandment  I  give  you ;  that 
you  love  one  another  as  I  have  loved  you.' " 

The  exordium  finished,  our  missionary  proceeds  to 
divide  Christ's  preaching  in  regard  to  fraternal  char- 
ity— a  virtue  that  is  to  be  a  characteristic  trait  of  the 


140  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

true  Christian — into  precept  and  counsel.  To  "love 
our  neighbors  as  ourselves,"  that  is,  to  "do  unto 
others,  as  we  would  have  others  do  unto  us,"  he  tells  us, 
is  a  precept  for  all,  and  necessary  for  salvation.  To 
love  one  another  as  Christ  loved  us,  that  is,  unto  death, 
is  a  counsel  which,  if  followed,  makes  the  perfect  Chris- 
tian. The  first  point  Father  McKenna  develops  at 
length,  proves  his  doctrine  from  Scripture  and  theol- 
ogy, and  shows  that  fraternal  charity  is  distinctively  a 
Christian  virtue  practiced  through  all  the  ages  of  the 
Church.  Coming  then  to  the  second  point  of  his 
sermon,  he  insists  that,  with  the  grace  of  God,  not  only 
is  love  of  our  fellow-man  in  this  fullest  sense  of  the 
term  possible,  but  that  it  has  ever  been  the  effort  of 
the  saints  to  attain  this  high  degree  of  perfection. 

Fraternal  charity  was  a  subject  on  which  our  friar 
loved  both  to  converse  and  to  preach — possibly  a  veri- 
fication of  the  words  of  Christ:  "Out  of  the  fullness 
of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh."  It  was  a  topic  that 
ever  caused  him  to  rise  to  the  heights  of  his  eloquence. 
And  that  Father  Charles  McKenna  himself  practiced 
the  precept  of  fraternal  charity  to  an  eminent  degree 
cannot  be  denied.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted,  we  think, 
that  he  possessed  much  of  that  heroic  love  of  his  fellow- 
man  which  he  tells  us  is  a  counsel,  and  which  he  says 
brings  one  to  the  summit  of  perfection  coveted  by  the 
saints. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

LABORS  AND  METHOD. 
(1876-1878) 

AN  interesting  episode  related  of  one  of  our  noted 
public  men  and  orators — Henry  Clay — exercised  a 
great  influence  on  the  style  and  preaching  of  Father 
McKenna.  The  distinguished  statesman,  as  the  story 
goes,  had  a  favorite  colored  man-servant  whom  he  was 
accustomed  to  take  with  him  to  the  National  Capital. 
Proud  of  his  master  and  fond  of  oratory,  the  elderly 
colored  man  never  failed  to  hear  the  speeches  of  Mr. 
Clay.  On  one  occasion,  when  the  great  orator  had  de- 
livered a  masterful  oration  that  particularly  pleased 
his  servant,  the  old  negro  waited  at  the  Capitol  to 
congratulate  his  master.  When  Mr.  Clay  appeared, 
his  colored  servant  hastened  to  him,  and  grasping  his 
hand,  exclaimed:  "Massah  Clay,  that  was  the  greatest 
speech  I  ever  heard  you  make.  This  poor  old  colored 
man  understood  every  word  of  it;  and,  what  is  more, 
every  time  you  opened  your  mouth,  you  said  some- 
thing." The  great  statesman,  it  is  said,  felt  that  his 
negro  servant  had  paid  him  one  of  the  best  compli- 
ments he  had  ever  received. 

Father  McKenna,  in  speaking  to  young  priests  on 
preaching,  as  he  was  wont  to  do,  often  referred  to 
this  incident  in  the  life  of  Henry  Clay.  The  great 
missioner  thought  that  if  a  public  man  engaged  in  the 
arena  of  politics  felt  it  his  duty  so  to  speak  as  to  in- 
struct and  to  be  understood  by  the  common  people, 

141 


142  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

an  ambassador  of  Christ  should,  for  still  greater  reasons, 
aim  to  keep  his  sermons  down  to  the  level  of  the  low- 
liest of  his  audience.  He  was  far,  however,  from  ad- 
vocating trite  and  commonplace  sermons,  for  he  be- 
lieved that  a  priest  should  put  his  best  into  his  instruc- 
tions to  the  people.  The  poor  and  humble,  he  used 
to  say,  were  especially  loved  by  Christ.  Among  this 
class  the  Saviour  mingled  when  on  earth.  From 
among  these  He  chose  His  apostles;  He  gave  them 
every  proof  of  a  special  predilection.  The  priest, 
therefore,  following  the  example  of  his  Master,  should 
preach  in  a  particular  manner  for  the  poor  and  give 
his  time  to  them  rather  than  to  the  rich.  Love  of  the 
poor  the  good  friar  believed  to  be  a  sure  sign  of  a 
faithful  minister  of  Christ. 

His  efforts  to  keep  well  within  the  mental  grasp  of 
the  least  educated  of  his  hearers  at  times  caused  our 
zealous  missioner  to  sacrifice  eloquence  of  diction  to 
simplicity  of  language.  Yet,  because  of  his  earnest- 
ness, his  eloquence  and  his  inimitable  way  of  saying 
even  the  simplest  things,  his  sermons  never  failed  both 
to  appeal  to  the  untutored  and  effectively  to  impress 
the  learned. 

Ever  anxious  to  improve  himself,  Father  McKenna 
sought  criticisms  of  his  sermons  from  whatever  source 
they  might  come.  These  he  carefully  fixed  in  his 
tenacious  memory  for  future  guidance.  No  sugges- 
tion was  beneath  his  notice,  if  only  it  would  aid  him 
x  in  the  harvest  of  souls.  He  cared  little  for  the  com- 
pliments of  the  learned,  but  he  keenly  relished  the  ap- 
preciation of  the  poor  and  unlettered,  to  whom  his 
great  soul  went  out  in  Christ-like  compassion.  When 
he  drew  these  latter  to  the  church  in  great  numbers,  as 


LABORS  AND  METHOD.  143 

he  generally  did,  he  believed  he  was  fruitfully  ful- 
filling his  mission  as  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel. 

Although  Father  McKenna  possessed  a  good  knowl- 
edge of  theology,  had  a  wide  acquaintance  with  history, 
and  was  well  versed  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  he  sel- 
dom indulged  in  an  argumentative  style.  He  felt  that 
at  least  on  the  missions  and  in  ordinary  discourses  on 
the  Gospels  of  the  Sundays  the  plain  didactic  method 
was  productive  not  only  of  greater  immediate  good, 
but  of  more  lasting  results.  He  realized  that  those 
who  did  not  wish  to  see  the  truth  would  be  convinced 
by  no  argument,  however  strong;  and  he  was  satisfied 
that  both  Catholics  and  non-Catholics  of  good  will 
were  benefited  more  by  a  plain  statement  of  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Church,  which  they  could  understand  and 
would  retain  because  they  understood,  than  by  any 
learned  expositions  of  the  truths  of  faith.  While  he 
was  blessed  with  no  ordinary  power  for  developing 
his  subject,  in  this  also  he  held  himself  to  the  level  of 
his  audience.  This  power,  although  restrained,  blended 
happily  with  a  fertile  Celtic  imagination,  native  dra- 
matic powers,  a  splendid  voice,  earnestness,  and  a 
striking  way  of  saying  even  simple  things,  with  the 
result  that  his  sermons  were  models  of  strong,  per- 
suasive oratory. 

Like  the  two  years  reviewed  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter, those  of  1876,  1877  and  the  first  half  of  1878  were 
given  principally  to  missions  in  many  parts  of  the  east. 
Among  the  priests  and  people  of  Brooklyn  he  had 
already  become  a  favorite.  Now  Massachusetts, 
although  farther  away  from  his  home,  began  to  vie  with 
Long  Island  in  honoring  the  saintly  Dominican,  and 
was  soon  to  become  one  of  his  most  fruitful  fields  of 


144  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

labor.  During  this  time  also  he  made  several  excur- 
sions into  the  mid-west,  and  as  far  south  as  Memphis, 
Tennessee,  everywhere  meeting  with  signal  success.  A 
few  missions  in  which  he  took  part  in  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington, gave  him  a  reputation  as  an  eloquent  speaker 
in  the  National  Capital,  where  oratory  is  so  common 
that  it  must  excel  indeed  to  be  appreciated. 

It  were  both  tedious  to  the  writer  and  tiresome  to 
the  reader  to  follow  the  missionary  in  his  travels 
through  the  country  in  search  of  spiritual  conquests 
during  these  two  and  a  half  years.  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  his  active  ministry  kept  him  almost  constantly 
from  home,  and  that  he  saw  but  little  of  his  convent 
from  September  to  July. 

His  absence  from  New  York  made  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  anxious  to  resign  his  position  as  spiritual  di- 
rector of  the  Holy  Name  Society  at  Saint  Vincent 
Ferrer's,  but  his  wish  was  not  granted.  He  did  not 
fail,  whenever  this  was  possible,  to  be  present  at  the 
meetings  and  for  the  communion  Sundays  of  the  so- 
ciety— the  second  Sunday  of  every  other  month — and  for 
this  purpose  often  made  long,  hurried  journeys  from 
the  missions  on  which  he  was  engaged  and  back  again, 
another  priest  taking  his  place  during  his  absence. 
When  unable  to  preside  in  person  at  the  assemblies 
and  spiritual  exercises  of  his  cherished  society,  Father 
McKenna  did  not  neglect  to  notify  his  superior  and  to 
request  that  some  one  be  appointed  to  act  in  his  stead. 
Such  keen  interest  in  their  souls'  welfare — such  sacri- 
fice for  the  good  of  their  society — caused  their  spiritual 
director  to  be  idolized  by  the  early  Holy  Name  men  of 
New  York.  To  this  day,  those  who  still  live  hold  him 
in  veneration  and  speak  of  him  with  reverence  and  en- 
thusiasm. 


LABORS  AND  METHOD.  145 

As  no  greater  tribute  can  be  paid  a  minister  of  the 
Gospel  than  to  say  that  he  strove  to  model  his  life  after 
that  of  his  Divine  Master,  so  no  higher  praise  can  be 
bestowed  upon  a  religious  than  to  say  that  he  was  deeply 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  his  order  and  its  founder. 
That  both  these  tributes  may  truly  be  paid  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  those  who  knew  him  intimately  can  testify. 
While,  as  if  in  verification  of  the  old  adage,  "So  many 
men,  so  many  minds"  (tot  homines,  quot  sententiae), 
others  at  times  differed  from  him  in  opinion,  there  was 
never  any  room  to  question  his  candid  sincerity,  or  to 
doubt  his  burning  zeal  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the 
cause  of  religion.  The  mottoes  of  Saint  Dominic  and 
his  Order,  "  Salvation  of  souls "  first  of  all,  and 
"Praise  and  bless  the  Lord,  and  preach  the  truth  of 
the  Gospel,"  (laudare,  benedicere  et  praedicare), 
formed  the  key-note  of  the  good  Friar  Preacher's  long 
sacerdotal  life.  Thus  it  is  little  wonder  that,  as  he 
grew  in  age,  he  grew  likewise  in  holiness  and  zeal,  in 
eloquence  and  reputation.  His  deep,  abiding  devotion 
to  the  Virgin  Mother  and  his  consuming  love  for  her 
Divine  Son  sustained  his  energies,  as  also  his  efforts  to 
spread  the  societies  of  the  Rosary  and  the  Holy  Name. 
His  success  in  this  field  of  labor  is  attested  by  the 
numbers  who  became  rosarians  or  men  of  the  Holy 
Name.  In  the  interest  of  the  latter  society  we  now 
find  him,  in  concert  with  his  brethren,  giving  special 
missions  for  men  only,  at  which  not  infrequently  five 
hundred  or  more  new  members  were  enrolled  in  the 
society. 

Father  McKenna's  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment was  extraordinary.  Though,  not  to  detain  the 
faithful,  he  said  an  ordinary  low  mass  in  twenty-five 

11 


146  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

minutes,  or  in  even  less  time,  his  devout  attitude  while 
offering  up  the  holy  sacrifice  awakened  sentiments  of 
the  keenest  piety.  The  good  priest  seldom  passed  a 
church  without  entering  to  pay  a  visit  to  his  eucharis- 
tic  Lord,  before  whom  it  was  his  delight  to  pour  out 
his  soul  in  heartfelt  prayer. 

The  Blessed  Sacrament  was  a  subject  on  which  he 
loved  to  preach.  In  later  years  the  writer  often  heard 
him  speak  on  this  topic  with  telling  effect.  On  such 
occasions  he  never  failed  to  reach  the  heights  of  elo- 
quent pleading  in  his  efforts  to  induce  the  people  to 
go  often  to  mass  and  to  receive  communion  frequently. 
It  is  a  fact  that  speaks  well  for  the  zeal  of  the  Friars 
Preacher  that,  long  years  before  the  appearance  of  the 
pontifical  letters  of  Pius  X  (the  Sacra  Tridentina 
Sy nodus  of  December  20,  1905,  and  the  Quam  Singu- 
lari  of  August  8,  1910),  urging  frequent  or  even 
daily  communion,  there  were  many  daily  communi- 
cants in  the  Dominican  church  of  Saint  Vincent 
Ferrer,  New  York.  As  among  these  pious  people 
there  were  a  number  of  Father  McKenna's  friends, 
doubtless  the  edifying  practice  was  in  no  small  meas- 
ure due  to  his  wise  and  prudent  guidance.  Like  the 
late  saintly  Pontiff,  our  apostolic  missioner  sought 
throughout  his  long  priestly  life  to  bring  the  faithful 
nearer  to  Christ  through  the  august  sacrament  of  the 
Eucharist. 

To  the  present  period  of  the  great  missionary's  life 
apparently  belongs  a  rather  lengthy  outline  of  a  ser- 
mon on  the  real  presence.  Evidently  it  was  written 
for  a  mixed  congregation,  and  it  was  one  of  his  few 
early  controversial  discourses.  Its  style,  however,  is 
adapted  at  once  to  convince  the  unbeliever  and  to 


LABORS  AND  METHOD.  147 

quicken  the  faith  and  devotion  of  the  practical  Catho- 
lic. Delivered  by  one  endowed  with  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  superb  oratorical  ability  it  must  have  made  a 
deep  impression.  He  was,  indeed,  eminently  success- 
ful in  stirring  the  feelings  of  his  audience — in  arous- 
ing them  either  to  sorrow  and  repentance  for  their  sins, 
or  to  love  and  devotion  to  Christ  their  Lord  and  God 
their  Father. 

To  the  knowledge  of  men  acquired  by  experience  in 
the  world  as  a  common  laborer  Father  McKenna  had 
now  added  that  deeper  insight  into  souls  gained 
through  more  intimate  contact  with  them  as  their  spirit- 
ual guide.  Well  had  he  learned  human  nature,  the 
motives  and  passions  that  sway  it.  Through  his 
priestly  ministrations  he  soon  came  to  be  able  to  read  a 
soul  almost  as  he  could  read  a  book.  This  advantage 
he  skilfully  employed  for  the  higher  good  of  his  peni- 
tents and  audiences. 

Through  tireless  reading  and  study,  with  the  aid  of 
a  splendid  memory,  the  zealous  priest  soon  amassed  a 
fund  of  information  useful  for  the  work  in  which  he 
was  principally  engaged.  In  the  accumulation  of  this 
he  drew  freely  upon  the  rich  store  of  ecclesiastical  and 
devotional  literature  in  the  French  language  which  he 
read  with  ease.  When  preaching  it  was  his  invariable 
custom  to  watch  carefully  what  manner  of  sermon 
most  touched  the  people.  Another  of  his  habits  was 
to  station  himself  at  some  point  of  vantage  in  order  to 
make  a  critical  study  of  the  effect  of  the  discourses  of 
others.  In  this  way  his  good  practical  judgment  soon 
convinced  him  that  the  learned  sermon,  with  its  rigidly 
logical  order,  division,  and  subdivision,  such  as  he  found 
in  French  books,  was  by  no  means  suited  to  the  apos- 
tolate  of  parochial  missions  in  the  United  States. 


148  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Nature  had  endowed  him  with  a  keen  psychological 
sense.  Thus  he  early  realized  that  to  accomplish 
lasting  good  it  is  as  necessary  to  touch  the  heart  as  to 
appeal  to  the  mind;  nay,  that  oftentimes  the  heart  is 
the  highway  that  leads  to  the  intellect.  His  native 
good  judgment  convinced  him  that  it  is  impossible  to 
be  exhaustive  in  a  sermon  of  from  one  half  to  three 
quarters  of  an  hour ;  that  a  discourse  following  a  closely 
connected  line  of  logical  argument  demands  a  strict 
attention  of  which  but  few  in  an  ordinary  audience  are 
capable;  and  that,  therefore,  the  most  fruitful  oration 
is  one  that  contains  a  few  prominent,  clearly  defined 
ideas  presented  in  a  bold,  pointed  manner.  In  this 
style  of  sermon  the  earnest  Friar  Preacher  became 
in  course  of  time  a  past-master. 

Notwithstanding  his  sincere  humility,  by  the  close 
of  this  period  of  continuous  preaching  the  success  that 
had  attended  Father  McKenna's  efforts  had  given  him 
confidence  in  his  powers.  Many  another  with  far  less 
reason  might  have  been  overcome  by  pride.  Not  so 
our  zealous  missionary.  He  keenly  realized  that  his 
talent  was  from  God  and  he  felt  that  he  was  in  con- 
science bound  to  use  it  for  the  promotion  of  the  divine 
glory  and  the  cause  of  religion.  Many  another,  con- 
tent to  rest  on  his  laurels,  might  have  been  tempted  to 
relax  his  study  and  preparation.  But  with  Father 
McKenna  success  was  a  spiritual  tonic — a  stimulus  to 
further  endeavor.  He  could  not  think  of  rest  when 
there  was  so  much  to  be  done. 

While  he  no  longer  found  it  necessary  to  write  and 
memorize  ordinary  mission  and  Sunday  sermons,  he 
devoted  much  time  to  their  preparation.  Over  and 
over  he  pondered  the  topics  on  which  he  thought  he 


LABORS  AND  METHOD.  149 

should  be  prepared  to  preach,  until  his  mind  was  sat- 
urated with  them.  In  this  way,  in  course  of  time,  he 
came  to  know  the  Gospels  of  the  Sundays  and  the 
principal  feasts  practically  by  heart.  Thus,  although 
Father  McKenna  possessed  considerable  spontaneity, 
his  so-called  extemporaneous  sermons  were  in  reality 
the  fruit  of  unremitting  preparation — the  overflow,  so 
to  say,  of  a  mind  steeped  with  its  subject  through 
serious  thought  and  study.  But  to  make  assurance 
doubly  sure,  he  wrote  out  numerous  sermon-plans,  fix- 
ing them  in  his  memory  and  using  them  as  a  loom  on 
which  to  weave  the  woof  and  warp  of  his  Gospel 
message  to  the  people. 

Of  his  special  sermons  and  his  lectures  Father  Mc- 
Kenna made  it  a  rule  to  write  out  rather  full  out- 
lines, but  without  any  special  effort  at  style,  and  these 
he  committed  practically  to  memory.  This  wise  cus- 
tom he  maintained  through  all  his  long  public  career. 
But  his  native  eloquence  and  imagination,  his  mastery 
of  his  subject,  the  life  and  vigor  that  he  put  into  it, 
the  matchless  way  in  which  he  clothed  the  framework 
of  his  discourse — all  these  combined  to  take  away  the 
least  suggestion  of  the  memorized  oration,  generally 
so  dry  and  spiritless. 

One  of  the  reasons  that  caused  our  friar  to  adhere  so 
faithfully  to  this  habit  of  writing  out  minutely  the 
skeletons  of  his  lectures  and  special  sermons,  was  the 
realization  that  a  public  speaker  cannot  be  at  his  best 
at  all  times;  that  on  occasions  when  the  spirit,  be- 
cause of  the  sluggishness  of  the  body,  refuses  to  work 
with  happy  facility,  such  well  digested  plans  committed 
to  memory  invigorate  the  mind  by  the  confidence  they 
inspire.  In  his  charity  he  urged  young  clergymen  as- 


150  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

piring  to  be  preachers  to  adopt  this  practice;  for  he 
felt  that  in  the  lack  of  such  outlines  thus  firmly  fixed 
in  the  mind  often  lay  the  cause  of  the  failure  of  young 
men  of  promise,  as  also  of  the  occasional  disappoint- 
ments given  by  orators  of  known  ability. 

Nature  had  blessed  Rev.  Charles  McKenna  with  a 
good  voice,  which  through  constant  use  had  grown  full, 
strong  and  resonant.  By  practice  he  had  brought  it 
under  perfect  control.  His  low  tones  were  deep,  rich 
and  mellow;  the  higher  sometimes  approached  a  tenor. 
He  could  change  his  voice  from  one  tone  to  another 
with  ease.  Whatever  the  key  he  took,  it  was  pleasing 
and  agreeable.  Through  tireless  effort  he  had  also 
become  a  master  of  expression,  emphasis,  modulation. 
All  this — together  with  a  tall,  finely  proportioned 
physical  frame,  a  striking  face,  a  mortified  and  spirit- 
ual countenance,  graceful  gestures,  a  magnetic  per- 
sonality and  an  evident  zeal — conspired  to  make  a 
pulpit  orator  of  note  and  a  successful  missionary. 

Without  in  any  way  courting  it,  the  eloquent  Friar 
Preacher  soon  became  immensely  popular  among  both 
laity  and  clergy,  wherever  his  duty  as  a  priest  called 
him.  Seldom  did  he  give  a  mission  but  that  the  pastor 
sought  his  services  again — often,  indeed,  for  many  suc- 
cessive missions.  The  friendships  thus  formed  with  tfce 
clergy  lasted  almost  without  exception  until  death. 
About  the  time  of  which  we  speak,  he  contracted  an  in- 
timate friendship  with  Rev.  John  McCabe,  pastor  of 
Saint  John's  Church,  Providence,  that  led  to  Father 
McCabe's  bequeathing  his  fine  library  to  the  Order  at 
his  death. 

The  reader's  attention  has  been  called  to  the  success 
that  everywhere  attended  the  efforts  of  the  fathers  in 


LABORS  AND  METHOD.  151 

the  missionary  field,  and  to  the  numbers  that  came  to 
receive  their  ministrations.  No  one,  however,  was  the 
center  of  more  attraction  than  Father  McKenna, 
young  as  he  was.  A  striking  instance  of  this  is  found 
in  a  mission  over  which  he  presided  at  the  church  of 
Saint  James,  Salem,  Massachusetts,  in  late  February 
and  early  March,  1877.  Though  many  had  to  be 
turned  away  because  of  the  lack  of  space  to  accommo- 
date them,  the  pastor  was  obliged  to  place  extra  sup- 
ports under  the  galleries  to  prevent  them  from  falling 
under  the  weight  of  the  crowds  that  were  admitted  to 
the  sermons.  Frequently  non-Catholics  were  brought 
into  the  fold  by  the  missionaries'  happy  exposition  of 
Catholic  doctrine.  In  this  good  work,  too,  Father  Mc- 
Kenna began  to  play  a  conspicuous  part  almost  from 
the  time  he  entered  upon  his  apostolic  career.  The 
influence  of  his  piety  over  those  not  of  the  faith  was 
extraordinary. 

While  Father  McKenna  shone  for  his  priestly  zeal 
and  apostolic  labors,  he  was  no  less  noted  for  his  hu- 
mility, his  religious  obedience,  his  submission  to  the 
decrees  of  God.  His  superiors  he  regarded  as  repre- 
sentatives of  the  divine  will.  The  crosses  sent  from 
heaven  he  looked  upon  as  blessings  in  disguise.  Dur- 
ing the  summer  of  1877,  on  account  of  the  temporary 
absence  of  the  novice-master,  he  was  placed  in  charge 
of  the  novitiate  at  Saint  Joseph's,  near  Somerset,  Ohio. 
At  this  time  one  of  his  nephews — his  own  godson- 
died  at  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania.  Two  brief  letters 
written  to  the  young  man's  mother,  Mrs.  Roger 
Dougherty,  in  this  connection  serve  not  only  to  reveal 
the  friar's  deeply  religious  character,  but  to  show  how 
his  heart  went  out  in  compassion  to  those  whom  he 


152  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

loved — how  he  himself  practiced  and  taught  submis- 
sion to  the  divine  will  in  all  things — how  he  ever  sought 
to  lead  the  saddened  soul  to  God  as  the  sovereign  com- 
forter. 

"CHURCH  OF  ST.  PETER,  DANBTJRY,  CONN. 
"  Dear  Sister: 

"I  got  your  last  letter  and  am  very  sorry  that  there  is  no 
change  for  the  better.  God  in  His  mercy  help  you  to  bear  your 
heavy  cross !  Truly  it  appears  that  the  last  drops  in  the  bitter 
chalice  are  the  most  difficult  to  drink.  Yet,  after  all,  our  Father 
in  Heaven  has  prepared  the  cup  for  each  of  us,  and  we  must 
try  to  repeat  with  our  Lord :  '  The  chalice  which  my  Father  has 
prepared,  shall  I  not  drink  it? '  Let  us  remember  that  in  a  very 
short  time  eternity  will  be  ours;  and  how  soon  will  all  be  for- 
gotten of  the  sufferings  of  time?  St.  Paul  tells  us  that  the 
sufferings  of  this  life  cannot  be  compared  with  the  joys  pre- 
pared for  us  in  Heaven.  Mother  told  me  that  once  when  Mary 
Bradley  gave  way  to  bitter  grief,  her  mother,  Aunt  Matty,  said 
to  her:  'Mary,  dear,  do  you  set  no  value  on  the  joys  of 
Heaven  ? J  Bear  up  bravely  for  the  rest  of  the  road  which  will 
be  short,  but  the  reward  will  be  eternal.  God  bless  you  all.  I 
am  thinking  of  going  West  soon.  Will  see  Mary. 
"Your  affectionate  brother, 

"  C.  H.  McKENNA."1 

On  receipt  of  the  news  of  young  Dougherty's  death 
the  friar  wrote  again: 

"  ST.  JOSEPH'S  CONVENT, 
"  Somerset,  Perry  Co.,  Ohio, 

"July  21,  1877. 
"  My  dear  Sister: 

"  I  received  your  telegram  last  evening  announcing  the  death 
of  poor  John.     May  God  rest  his  soul!     Dear  Sister,  I  regret 

*  An  undated  letter  to  Mrs.  Roger  Dougherty,  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania. 
Copy  furnished  by  Miss  Mary  Dougherty  of  the  same  place. 


LABORS  AND  METHOD.  153 

very  much  my  inability  to  go  to  you  immediately.  You  know  how 
my  heart  sympathizes  with  you  in  your  hour  of  sorrow.  I  know 
that  I  cannot  realize  the  extent  of  your  grief ;  for  as  none  but  a 
mother  can  know  a  mother's  joy,  so  none  but  a  mother  can  un- 
derstand the  depth  of  a  mother's  sorrow.  This  morning  I 
offered  up  the  adorable  Sacrifice  for  my  god-child.  I  shall  not 
forget  him  in  the  Mass.  I  have  asked  the  prayers  of  the  Com- 
munity in  his  behalf,  and  tomorrow  they  will  offer  their  Holy 
Communions  for  him.  .  .  ." 

He  then  proceeds  to  tell  his  sister  why  he  cannot 
go  to  Lancaster, — his  position  as  master  of  novices 
requires  his  presence  in  the  convent.  Continuing  his 
letter,  he  writes: 

"My  dear  sister,  let  your  hope  in  the  tender  mercy  of  our 
heavenly  Father  sustain  you  now.  One  by  one  those  we  love 
are  taken  from  us — rather  they  go  before  us  as  a  new  bond  draw- 
ing our  hearts  to  Heaven.  Each  tie  that  binds  us  to  this  world 
is  gradually  loosened  that  we  may  be  freer  to  set  our  hearts  on 
the  things  of  Heaven.  For,  says  Our  Lord,  where  our  treasure 
is,  there  also  is  our  heart.  Dear  sister,  you  have  seen  many  of 
your  heart's  treasures  taken — I  hope  to  Heaven.  Our  father, 
our  mother,  your  own  little  ones.  But  God  is  good,  and  His 
mercy  is  from  generation  to  generation.  Our  loss  is  our  dear 
ones'  joy.  They  go  to  our  Father's  home  to  await  us,  to  pray 
for  us,  to  meet  us  in  Heaven.  Many  of  my  spiritual  children 
have  gone  before  me  and  my  eyes  are  now  filling  with  tears. 
They  promised  to  pray  for  me,  and  won't  your  children  pray 
for  you?  Yes,  be  of  good  courage;  joyfully  embrace  the  cross 
— the  separation  will  be  of  short  duration.  Write  me  the  par- 
ticulars. 

"  Your  loving  brother, 

"  C.  H.  McKENNA."2 

2  Letter  to  Mrs.  Roger  Dougherty,  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania.  Copy  fur- 
nished by  Miss  Mary  Dougherty  of  the  same  place. 


154  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

The  missionary's  stay  at  his  alma  mater  was  short, 
for  on  the  return  of  the  novice-master  in  September, 
1877,  he  again  took  up  his  customary  labors.  But  we 
have  now  arrived  at  a  point  in  his  biography  where  we 
must  note  a  modification  in  his  method  of  directing 
souls.  In  later  life  Father  McKenna's  conscience 
often  troubled  him  lest,  in  the  first  years  of  his  mis- 
sionary career,  he  had  been  too  severe  both  in  his 
sermons  and  in  the  confessional.  Both  the  good  and  the 
bad  make  the  missions,  and  experience  had  by  this 
time  convinced  him  that  such  a  method  is  best  for 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other.  The  consciences  of  the 
good,  he  felt,  are  thus  too  much  disturbed;  those  of  the 
bad  hardly  benefited. 

Yet,  on  the  one  hand,  he  was  too  much  an  enemy  of 
sin  not  to  assail  it  with  all  his  energy;  on  the  other,  he 
had  become  too  well  acquainted  with  human  nature 
not  to  know  that  it  is  unwise  to  wound  too  deeply 
those  whom  he  would  reform  and  lead  to  a  new  life,  or 
to  disturb  to  excess  the  consciences  of  those  whom  he 
would  guide  to  a  higher  degree  of  spirituality.  He 
therefore  adopted  a  plan — a  plan  which  he  followed 
until  the  end  of  his  missionary  activity — which  he  had 
learned  to  be  more  conducive  to  the  betterment  of  both 
the  wicked  and  the  virtuous.  Like  a  trained  lawyer 
pleading  the  cause  of  Christ,  the  missionary  first 
studied  and  won  his  audience.  Then  he  proceeded  to 
denounce  vice  with  the  most  forceful  and  direct  lan- 
guage that  he  dared  use  without  running  the  risk  of 
still  further  hardening  evil-doers  in  their  sinful  ways  or 
tempting  the  good  and  virtuous  to  despair.  Like  a 
practiced  physician,  he  was  skilful  in  healing  spiritual 


LABORS  AND  METHOD.  155 

ills,  in  making  the  strong  stronger,  in  soothing  by  kind 
words  of  encouragement  the  wounds  caused  by  his  on- 
slaughts against  sin.  Both  the  balm  for  the  injured 
and  the  encouragement  for  the  pious  he  drew  from 
Sacred  Scripture,  the  lives  of  the  saints  and  the  re- 
ward promised  alike  to  the  penitent  sinner  and  to  those 
who  lead  good  lives. 

To  stern  enmity  for  sin  the  zealous  friar  added  the 
deepest  sympathy  for  its  victims — a  sympathy  that  was 
clearly  manifest  even  in  his  severest  moments.  But 
believing  that  love  exercises  a  stronger  power  over 
men  than  fear,  he  sought  rather  to  inspire  his  audience 
with  a  love  of  God  than  with  fear  of  the  punishment 
of  sin.  Herein,  we  are  inclined  to  believe,  lay  one 
of  the  strongest  influences  in  the  success  of  his  apos- 
tolic work.  In  this,  too,  he  was  much  the  same  man- 
ner of  man  as  the  founder  of  his  Order,  Saint  Dominic, 
whose  life  he  strove  to  imitate  in  all  things. 

But  the  missionary's  aim  was  not  merely  to  bring 
people  to  love  God  and  to  hate  sin.  He  sought  also, 
as  much  as  his  limited  time  permitted,  to  instruct  them 
in  their  religion.  For  this  reason,  in  both  his  mission 
sermons  and  ordinary  Sunday  discourses — particularly 
in  the  latter — he  interspersed  much  solid  Christian  doc- 
trine with  the  earnest  exhortations  by  which  he  strove 
to  lead  his  audience  to  avoid  evil  and  to  practice  virtue. 
That  he  did  so  with  effect  is  evident  from  the  fact  that 
it  was  not  unusual  to  hear  persons  say  that  they  loved 
their  religion  the  more — were  the  better  instructed  and 
the  better  Catholics  for  having  listened  to  him.  A 
further  testimony  to  his  success  at  this  period  is  found 
in  one  of  the  leading  Catholic  papers  of  the  day  which 
tells  us: 


156  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

"  The  Dominican  Fathers  have  been  unusually  busy  this  year 
giving  missions.  Their  societies  of  the  Holy  Rosary,  the  Holy 
Name  and  the  Angelic  Warfare  are  becoming  more  known  and 
more  appreciated  day  by  day.  .  .  .  Latidare,  Benedicere  et 
Praedlcare  is  the  motto  of  the  grand  old  Order  of  St.  Dominic, 
and  the  Brethren  in  North  America  seem  determined  practically 
to  carry  it  out."3 

a  Freeman's  Journal,  April  6,  1878. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

PRIOR  IN  LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY. 

(1878-1881) 

ALTHOUGH  the  Dominicans  were  among  the  first 
missionaries  in  Kentucky,  settling  there  in  the  year 
1806,  it  was  not  until  1865  that  they  were  invited  to 
the  state's  chief  city.  At  the  time  of  their  arrival, 
Louisville  was  an  unpromising  pioneer  village,  strung 
in  disorderly  fashion  along  the  banks  of  the  Ohio. 
There  were  few,  if  any,  Catholics  in  the  town.  Thus, 
as  Bishop  Carroll  of  Baltimore  had  given  them  full 
liberty  to  choose  whatever  place  they  should  judge 
best  adapted  to  their  purpose,  the  fathers  rejected 
Louisville  and  selected  instead  the  principal  Catholic 
settlement  which  was  in  the  interior  of  the  state  and 
seemingly  at  once  the  most  convenient  center  for  their 
apostolic  labors  and  the  location  best  suited  for  their 
future  college  and  religious  novitiate. 

In  a  few  years,  however,  the  little  border  town  on 
the  Ohio  began  to  assume  importance,  and  it  became 
evident  to  all  that  it  was  destined  soon  to  be  the 
metropolis  of  Kentucky.  But  as  the  Dominicans  had 
already  exhausted  their  meager  resources  by  the  erec- 
tion of  the  convent  and  church  of  Saint  Rose  and  the 
college  of  Saint  Thomas  of  Aquin  in  an  agricultural 
district,  it  was  almost  impossible  for  them  to  transfer 
their  foundation  to  the  city  of  Louisville.  Other  in- 
fluences that  helped  to  hold  them  fast  to  their  rural 
settlement,  were  the  opposition  of  Bishop  Flaget,  the 

157 


158  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

attachment  of  the  fathers  to  the  simple,  open-hearted 
country  people  to  whose  spiritual  welfare  they  min- 
istered, and  the  affection  they  naturally  felt  for  the 
first  foundation  of  their  new  province. 

In  the  year  1841  there  arrived  in  Louisville  a  zealous 
young  ecclesiastical  student,  Peter  Joseph  Lavialle, 
who  three  years  later  was  raised  to  the  priesthood. 
Through  careful  study  of  the  history  of  the  Church  in 
Kentucky  and  the  exercise  of  his  sacerdotal  functions 
— he  was  first  professor  at  the  seminary  of  Saint 
Thomas,  eighteen  miles  from  Saint  Rose's  Priory  on 
one  side,  and  afterwards  president  of  Saint  Mary's 
College,  ten  miles  distant  on  the  other — Father  Lavi- 
alle came  to  know  and  to  admire  the  quiet,  laborious 
missionary  zeal  of  the  sons  of  Saint  Dominic.  In  this 
way  he  grew  to  be  one  of  their  staunchest  supporters 
in  the  diocese.  Almost  his  first  official  act  on  the  re- 
ceipt of  the  bulls  of  his  appointment  to  the  see  of 
Louisville,  in  1865,  was  to  urge  the  fathers  to  build  a 
church  and  establish  a  house  of  the  Order  in  his  epis- 
copal city.  The  provincial,  Father  O' Carroll,  ac- 
cepted the  generous  offer,  and  towards  the  end  of  the 
year  the  venerable  missionary,  Father  Matthew  A. 
O'Brien,  was  sent  to  organize  the  new  parish  and  to 
prepare  the  way  for  the  erection  of  a  convent.  Father 
O'Brien  was  a  bosom  friend  of  Doctor  Lavialle,  and 
at  first  lived  with  him,  but  when  he  had  built  a  small 
frame  church  near  the  site  of  the  present  stately  Saint 
Louis  Bertrand's,  he  rented  a  house  in  the  neighbor- 
hood for  a  temporary  home. 

Because  of  the  isolated  positions  of  the  Dominican 
novitiates,  both  in  Ohio  and  Kentucky,  recruits  to  the 
Order  had  been  all  too  few.  For  this  reason,  the 


PRIOR  IN  LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY.  159 

fathers  had  for  some  years  cherished  the  desire  of  re- 
moving their  house  of  studies  to  or  near  some  large 
city — particularly  in  the  East — where  they  hoped  vo- 
cations would  be  found  in  greater  numbers.  Bishop 
Lavialle  was  also  anxious  to  bring  his  seminary  of 
Saint  Thomas  from  the  country  to  Louisville.  When 
he  learned  that  the  province  was  planning  to  place  its 
principal  convent  in  some  more  populous  center,  he 
induced  Father  O'Carroll  to  confer  this  honor  upon  his 
own  episcopal  city,  promising  to  send  the  seminarians 
of  the  diocese  to  attend  the  courses  given  to  the  stu- 
dents of  the  Order,  and  in  return  to  defray  a  part  of 
the  expenses  incurred  in  the  construction  of  the  new 
priory.  To  meet  this  contingency  a  corps  of  fathers, 
with  Rev.  D.  J.  Meagher  as  their  superior,  was  sent  to 
Louisville,  and  in  the  August  of  1866  work  was  begun 
on  a  large  and  costly  building. 

In  the  meantime,  May  11,  1867,  Doctor  Lavialle 
died.  But  the  administrator  of  the  diocese,  Rev.  B.  J. 
Spalding,  D.D.,  who  as  vicar  general  had  been  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  policy  of  transferring  the  diocesan  sem- 
inary, and  who,  it  was  confidently  supposed,  would  be 
the  deceased  prelate's  successor,  urged  the  fathers  to 
continue  their  work.  A  friend  of  the  Friars  Preacher, 
he  gave  them  to  understand  that,  in  case  of  his  ap- 
pointment to  the  episcopal  charge,  he  would  carry  out 
the  agreements  that  had  been  entered  into.  The  new 
priory  was  completed  and  occupied  by  the  students  and 
their  professors  in  the  fall  after  the  death  of  Bishop 
Lavialle.  The  future  of  the  infant  institution  prom- 
ised well. 

Instead  of  Doctor  Spalding,  however,  the  late  Right 
Rev.  William  George  McCloskey  was  appointed  bishop 


160  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

of  Louisville  in  March,  1868,  was  consecrated  at  Rome 
on  May  24,  and  arrived  in  his  diocese  before  the 
close  of  that  year.  With  the  consent  of  the  new  ordi- 
nary Father  O'Carroll,  notwithstanding  the  poverty  of 
the  province  and  the  heavy  debt  incurred  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  convent,  instructed  the  superior,  Rev. 
D.  J.  Meagher,  to  begin  a  spacious  church  to  meet  the 
growing  needs  of  the  congregation.  Doubtless,  like 
many  foreigners  who  come  to  the  United  States,  the 
provincial  fancied  money  grew  on  trees  in  America. 
The  step  was  ill-advised.  The  handsome  structure  in- 
creased the  indebtedness  of  the  budding  house  of 
studies  almost  to  bankruptcy.  The  enormous  burden 
was  all  the  heavier  as  the  new  bishop,  whose  ideas 
differed  from  those  of  his  predecessor,  decided  not  to 
remove  the  seminary  to  Louisville,  and  the  great  cost 
of  the  priory  had  to  be  borne  wholly  by  the  fathers. 
Because  of  this  financial  embarrassment,  work  on  the 
church  had  to  be  suspended  towards  the  end  of  1870, 
when  the  walls  were  barely  under  roof.  For  the  same 
reason,  the  students  were  returned  to  Saint  Rose's,  as 
it  was  no  longer  possible  to  meet  the  greater  outlay  re- 
quired to  support  them  in  the  city.1 

Practically  all  the  resources  of  the  province,  which 
at  that  day  were  slender  indeed,  had  to  be  poured  into 
the  Louisville  institution  to  save  it  from  being  sold. 
The  unfinished  state  of  the  sacred  edifice  and  the  de- 
plorable financial  condition  of  the  Kentucky  founda- 
tion, when  Father  Burke  came  on  his  visit  to  the  United 
States,  moved  the  distinguished  orator  to  deliver  one  of 
his  historic  lectures  at  the  Academy  of  Music,  New 

iFreeman'$  Journal,  January  2,  1886;  Dominican  Year  Book,  1912, 
pages  46  ff. 


PRIOR  IN  LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY.  161 

York,  for  its  benefit.  As  a  means  of  aiding  it  still 
further,  he  preached  at  the  dedication  of  the  church, 
January  3,  1873.  It  was,  in  fact,  through  his  generos- 
ity that  the  fathers  were  finally  enabled  to  continue 
work  on  Saint  Louis  Bertrand's  Church  to  the  point 
where  it  was  fit  for  divine  service. 

But  this  help  was  only  partial  and  temporary.  A 
debt  of  nearly  $130,000  still  remained,  on  much  of 
which  an  interest — some  of  it  compound — of  from  six 
to  eight  per  cent  had  to  be  paid.  The  parish  was 
then  new,  and  its  territory  largely  uninhabited. 
Money  was  scarce  and  hard  to  get.  The  church  was  a 
stately  Gothic  structure,  but  without  towers  and  wholly 
without  ornamentation.  Its  walls  were  bare;  its  main 
altar  was  a  mere  platform  covered  with  common  un- 
bleached white  cotton,  while  the  same  material  covered 
two  boxes  that  were  used  for  side  altars.  Plain  un- 
varnished benches  served  for  pews. 

Such  was  the  unfinished  state  of  Saint  Louis  Ber- 
trand's Church,  Louisville,  and  such  the  pitiful  finan- 
cial condition  of  the  convent  of  the  same  name  in  the 
May  of  1878,  when  Rev.  Charles  H.  McKenna  was 
elected  prior  there.  Two  preceding  superiors  of  the 
priory  had  resigned  their  office  on  account  of  the  great 
debt.  Partly  for  the  same  reason,  partly  because  of 
his  dislike  for  honors,  and  partly  because  he  feared  the 
position  would  seriously  handicap,  if  not  end,  the  apos- 
tolic labors  in  which  he  felt  his  vocation  lay,  the  mis- 
sioner  sought  earnestly  to  avoid  the  responsibility,  but 
he  was  obliged  to  submit  to  the  voice  of  authority. 

At  the  time  of  his  election  to  the  priorship  of  Saint 
Louis  Bertrand's,  Father  McKenna  was  forty-two 
years  of  age — in  the  eleventh  of  his  priesthood — in  the 

12 


162  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

full  vigor  of  manhood.  He  was  considered  one  of  the 
country's  foremost  pulpit  orators  and  missionaries. 
He  was  regarded  not  only  as  an  exemplary  but  a 
saintly  priest  and  religious.  Withal,  he  had  given 
proof  of  good  financial  ability.  During  a  mission 
given  not  long  before  at  the  church  attached  to  the 
Louisville  house  he  had  won  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
All  this,  doubtless,  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
fathers  and  influenced  them  in  their  choice  of  the 
zealous  apostle  for  their  superior. 

When  Father  McKenna  received  the  letters  obliging 
him  to  accept  the  priorship  to  which  he  had  been 
elected,  he  was  engaged  in  a  mission  with  his  inti- 
mate friend,  Rev.  J.  P.  Turner,  O.P.,  at  the  Church 
of  the  Visitation,  Brooklyn;  but,  as  he  was  obliged  to 
finish  this  mission  and  to  give  another  to  the  young 
men  of  Saint  Stephen's  parish  in  the  same  city,  it  was 
the  end  of  June  before  he  could  start  for  Louisville. 
Characteristically  he  tarried  in  the  east  only  long 
enough  to  fill  these  engagements.  In  his  new  sphere 
the  earnest  priest  was  to  show  the  same  energetic  zeal 
that  had  stood  out  so  prominently  in  all  his  active  life. 

While  the  constitutions  of  the  Friars  Preacher  are 
severe  in  their  letter,  they  are  notably  broad  in  spirit 
and  in  practice.  Especially  is  this  the  case  when  there 
is  question  of  the  good  of  souls.  The  great  end  of  the 
Order  is  the  salvation  of  souls.  All  things  are  to  be  sub- 
servient to  the  attainment  of  this  purpose.  To  prevent 
the  conventual  observances  from  unduly  interfering 
with  the  institute's  prime  object  or  the  specific  means  by 
which  this  is  to  be  achieved — preaching  and  teaching— 
the  provincial  in  his  province  and  the  prior  in  his  con- 
vent are  invested  with  wide,  discretionary  powers  of 


PRIOR  IN  LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY.  163 

dispensation  that  possibly  are  given  to  superiors  of  no 
other  religious  order. 

This  extraordinary  authority  was  now  to  be  exer- 
cised in  all  its  latitude  in  the  case  of  Charles  McKenna. 
Compelled  by  the  sheer  necessity  of  meeting  the  debt 
on  the  Louisville  institution  and  of  providing  priests 
for  the  many  missions  the  fathers  were  requested  to 
give,  the  provincial  not  only  authorized  but  urged  the 
humble  prior  to  continue  his  accustomed  work,  although 
the  constitutions  suppose  a  superior  never  to  be  long 
away  from  his  convent.  It  was  a  case  of  that  extreme 
necessity  which  knows  no  law,  except  the  law  of  self- 
preservation — an  exceptional  course  that  would  hardly 
be  dreamed  of  in  this  day  of  greater  prosperity. 

Thus,  while  the  subject  of  our  sketch  had  this  addi- 
tional burden  placed  upon  him,  he  still  remained  ac- 
tively engaged  in  the  work  of  the  missions.  Fortu- 
nately his  shoulders  were  then  broad  and  strong,  en- 
abling him  to  fill  both  positions  with  credit  to  himself 
and  his  Order,  as  also  with  profit  to  souls. 

The  greatest  change  caused  in  the  missionary's  life 
by  this  transfer  was  the  widening  of  his  field  of  labor. 
Charles  Hyacinth  McKenna's  reputation  as  a  zealous 
priest  and  his  renown  as  a  pulpit  orator  of  the  first 
magnitude  had  preceded  him  to  Kentucky.  Hardly 
had  he  arrived  at  his  new  home  when  numerous  re- 
quests for  missions,  sermons  or  lectures  began  to  pour 
in  upon  him  from  all  parts  of  the  mid-west.  That 
they  might  not  interfere  with  his  principal  work,  he 
did  not  ordinarily  accept  invitations  for  special  ser- 
mons or  lectures  unless  they  were  to  be  delivered  im- 
mediately before  or  after  a  mission,  and  in  the  place 
where  the  mission  was  to  be  given.  Yet  many  were 


164  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

the  parishes  from  the  Alleghany  Mountains  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi River,  and  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  that  profited  by  his  zeal  and  were  im- 
pressed by  his  eloquence  during  the  three  years  that  he 
was  superior  of  the  convent  in  Louisville. 

The  high  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  in  the  east 
also  brought  him  many  appeals  for  missions  there.  He 
spent,  in  fact,  quite  as  much  of  this  period  in  the  east 
as  in  the  west. 

Thus,  apart  from  the  charge  of  the  Louisville  insti- 
tution, Father  McKenna's  labors  at  this  time  were  but 
a  repetition  of  those  of  the  years  through  which  we 
have  followed  him.  He  prayed;  he  studied;  he  read; 
he  meditated — all  to  perfect  himself  still  further  for 
his  apostolate — to  make  it  more  fruitful.  To  this  end 
he  now  added  his  efforts  to  those  of  his  brethren  to 
advance  the  Rosary  and  Holy  Name  societies  in  the 
west  and  south.  He  gave  them  a  new  impetus  in  these 
parts  of  the  country,  as  he  had  done  in  the  east. 

In  the  midst  of  his  many  labors  the  good  friar  found 
time  to  bring  out,  late  in  1878,  a  new  edition  of  the 
Manual  of  the  Holy  Name,  and  in  the  following 
year  a  second  edition  of  the  Dominican  Manual. 
In  1880  appeared  from  his  busy  pen  St.  Dominic's 
Tertiaries*  Guide — the  largest  of  his  devotional  works. 
In  its  seven  hundred  and  fifty  odd  pages  the  Ter- 
tiaries'  Guide  contains  the  history  and  purpose  of 
the  establishment  of  this  great  branch  of  the  Do- 
minican Order,  the  rules  by  which  it  is  governed,  the 
little  office  and  devotions  proper  to  its  members,  and 
prayers  of  a  more  general  character.  Like  his  other 
works,  it  makes  no  pretence  to  style;  like  them,  also, 
it  has  the  true  ring  of  genuine  piety.  Although  more 


PRIOR  IN  LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY.  165 

restricted  in  its  scope,  the  manual  for  Dominican  Ter- 
tiaries  has  passed  through  several  editions. 

Because  of  his  frequent  and  lengthy  absences  from 
the  convent,  necessitated  by  his  life  as  a  missioner, 
Father  McKenna  sincerely  desired  to  resign  his  prior- 
ship.  With  his  keen  sense  of  responsibility,  he  felt 
that  he  could  not  fill  the  office  of  superior  as  the  con- 
stitutions of  his  Order  suppose,  while  devoting  so 
much  of  his  time,  energy  and  thought  to  other  work. 
As  he  believed  it  to  be  the  will  of  God  that  he  should 
remain  in  the  active  apostolate,  he  thought  it  his  duty 
to  seek  to  be  relieved  of  the  charge  of  the  Louisville 
house  and  allowed  to  consecrate  himself  wholly  to  the 
work  of  the  missions.  But  as  obedience  had  obliged 
him  to  accept  the  honor,  so  obedience  was  now  to 
compel  him  to  remain  prior  of  Saint  Louis  Bertrand's 
for  the  full  term  of  three  years. 

"  An  obedient  man  shall  speak  of  victory,"  the  Scrip- 
tures tell  us.  The  truth  of  the  Biblical  proverb  was 
surely  exemplified  in  this  period  of  our  friar's  life. 
Despite  his  being  so  much  away  from  home,  Father 
McKenna's  administration  brought  great  good,  both 
spiritual  and  temporal,  to  the  Louisville  church  and 
convent — a  reward,  one  is  inclined  to  say,  of  his  re- 
ligious obedience. 

He  was  too  good  a  man  to  neglect  in  the  least  the 
things  of  the  soul.  That  which  he  possessed  himself, 
he  sought  to  give  out  to  others.  Thus,  though  the 
conventual  observance  at  Saint  Louis  Bertrand's  has 
always  been  exemplary,  the  religious  life  of  the  com- 
munity has  never  been  more  regular  than  during  the 
time  of  Father  McKenna's  priorship.  That  of  the 
parish  was  equally  happy.  The  church  sodalities,  par- 


166  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

ticularly  the  societies  of  the  Rosary  and  Holy  Name, 
received  a  new  inspiration  under  the  influence  of  his 
zeal.  Deeply  devoted  to  the  souls  in  purgatory,  he 
established  in  their  behalf  a  confraternity  of  the  Rosary 
of  the  Dead,  to  induce  the  people  to  say  this  extra- 
ordinarily indulgenced  prayer  for  the  Church  suffer- 
ing. Under  his  wise  guidance  the  pious  enterprise 
took  well  and  put  new  life  into  the  practice  of  this 
Catholic  charity  in  the  congregation.  The  parochial 
school  was  also  an  object  of  his  paternal  solicitude. 
No  man  ever  realized  more  than  the  zealous  prior  that 
a  full  school  means  full  pews,  while  no  school  means 
an  empty  or  a  poorly  attended  church.  Because  of 
his  zeal  and  shining  virtues  no  priest  was  ever  more 
highly  respected  in  the  city  of  Louisville  than  Father 
McKenna.  In  the  parish  of  Saint  Louis  Bertrand 
his  memory  is  still  venerated  after  a  lapse  of  more  than 
five  and  thirty  years. 

One  of  Father  McKenna's  first  acts  on  assuming  the 
priorship  of  Saint  Louis  Bertrand's  was  to  borrow 
money  through  friends  in  the  east  at  a  much  lower  rate 
of  interest  than  the  fathers  had  been  obliged  to  pay  in 
Louisville.  The  local  creditors  were  then  paid  off. 
Starting  with  this  considerable  saving,  through  eco- 
nomical management  he  was  able  not  merely  to  meet 
current  expenses,  but  to  reduce  the  great  debt  several 
thousand  dollars.  In  addition  to  this  he  greatly  im- 
proved the  interior  of  the  church.  During  his  term  of 
office,  through  his  exertions  and  the  munificence  of 
benefactors,  the  rough  benches  were  replaced  by  pews; 
three  wooden  altars  of  Gothic  design  were  installed  in- 
stead of  the  scaffold  and  boxes  whereon  mass  had  pre- 
viously been  said,  and  the  people  provided  with  suit- 


VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA  AS  PRIOR  IN  LOUISVILLE    KENTUCKY. 


PRIOR  IN  LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY.  167 

able  music  by  one  of  the  finest  Roosevelt  organs  in  the 
south.  The  great  bell  used  to  call  the  faithful  to 
prayer  was  also  a  gift  to  him.  As  an  admirer  of  the 
beautiful,  it  was  Father  McKenna's  desire  to  complete 
the  church  by  building  two  graceful  towers,  included 
in  the  original  design  of  the  architect.  But  lack  of  re- 
sources obliged  him  to  be  content  with  the  erection  of 
the  modest  wooden  cupola  which  still  serves  rather  as  a 
protection  for  the  bell  and  organ  than  as  an  ornament 
to  the  sacred  edifice.  Nor  did  Father  McKenna's  good 
offices  for  the  Louisville  church  and  convent  end  with 
his  priorship  there.  Although  he  lived  in  the  east, 
making  his  missionary  headquarters  at  Saint  Vincent 
Ferrer's,  New  York,  he  remained  assigned  to  Saint 
Louis  Bertrand's  until  in  1899.  During  this  time  he 
contributed  greatly  to  the  lightening  of  the  debt  with 
which  the  place  was  burdened.  Shortly  after  he  ceased 
to  be  superior,  his  friendship  with  John  Watts  Kear- 
ney and  family  led  to  the  donation  of  the  present  mag- 
nificent main  altar.  Of  pure  Gothic  design,  artisti- 
cally carved  in  marble  and  inlaid  with  onyx,  this  altar 
is  still  one  of  the  finest  in  the  country. 

Our  earliest  remembrance  of  Father  McKenna  dates 
from  the  period  of  his  priorship  of  the  convent  in 
Louisville.  When  the  writer  was  a  boy  of  eleven  or 
twelve  years  of  age,  the  holy  priest  gave  a  mission  at 
old  Saint  Rose's  Church,  near  Springfield,  Kentucky. 
As  our  boyish  fancy  pictured  him,  Father  McKenna 
then  stood  full  six  feet  in  height.  His  frame  was 
strong  and  lithe,  his  shoulders  broad  and  square,  his 
head  massive,  his  forehead  uncommonly  ample.  His 
hair  was  fast  thinning,  and  what  remained  was  grow- 
ing silvery.  His  complexion  was  pallid ;  his  face  some- 


168  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

what  emaciated;  his  countenance  a  combination  of  the 
severe  and  the  fatherly.  His  appearance  was  a  sermon 
in  itself.  He  possessed  one  of  those  rare  faces  that  a 
stranger  would  pick  out  from  among  a  thousand  as  de- 
noting a  deeply  spiritual  character  and  a  man  of  su- 
perior parts.  One  could  never  forget  the  piercing  eye ; 
the  clear,  strong,  sonorous  voice;  the  graceful,  majes- 
tic gesture  or  the  earnest  and  eloquent  pleading  of  the 
cause  of  Christ.  That  mission  is  still  spoken  of  by  the 
older  people  of  the  parish. 

An  interesting  feature  of  this  mission  was  the  for- 
mation of  the  colored  men  of  the  parish  into  a  special 
branch  of  the  Holy  Name,  probably  the  first  branch 
of  this  society  in  the  United  States  composed  wholly 
of  the  sons  of  Ham.  There  was  hardly  a  colored  man 
in  the  congregation  who  did  not  join  it.  Its  good 
effects  became  apparent  at  once  in  a  more  faithful  prac- 
tice of  their  religion.  Nor  has  the  passage  of  time 
caused  the  sodality  to  lose  its  hold  on  the  colored 
men  of  the  congregation.  To  this  day  it  remains  one 
of  the  strongest  safeguards  of  their  Catholic  faith. 

The  subjoined  reminiscence  of  the  zealous  missioner 
was  written  at  our  request  by  a  leading  attorney  of 
Kentucky,  who  was  then,  as  now,  a  member  of  the 
parish  of  Saint  Louis  Bertrand.  Its  author's  sound 
judgment,  wide  experience  and  intimate  knowledge  of 
Father  McKenna  make  the  appreciation  all  the  more 
just  and  valuable. 

"To  know  Father  McKenna  was  to  love  him.  His  manner, 
seemingly  cold  and  even  stern,  gave  slight  indication  of  the 
warmth  of  his  nature.  Under  an  exterior  of  apparent  severity 
there  lay  concealed  a  heart  of  unusual  and  extraordinary  tender- 
ness. No  one  could  enter  more  fully  or  more  sympathetically 


PRIOR  IN  LOUISVILLE,  KENTUCKY.  169 

into  the  sorrows  of  others,  or  more  truly  make  them  his  own. 
He  was  generosity  itself;  yet,  to  hear  him  preach,  you  might, 
at  times,  be  tempted  to  think  he  had  studied  only  of  the  inex- 
orable justice  of  the  Judge  before  whom  we  must  all  one  day 
stand,  and  had  given  little  thought  to  the  Mercy  which  sur- 
passeth  all  His  works.  I  am  not  sure  that  I  have  ever  heard 
one  who  could  so  powerfully  portray  the  offended  ma j  esty  of  the 
Creator  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  temerity  of  the  rebellious  and 
impenitent  creature  on  the  other.  Yet,  he  was  no  more  forceful 
in  dilating  upon  the  justice  of  God  than  he  was  effective  in  the 
portrayal  of  His  love.  The  Return  of  the  Prodigal  was  one  of 
his  favorite  themes.  Many  a  time  I  have  heard  him  enlarge 
upon  the  Gospel  parable  until  all  within  the  sound  of  his  voice 
were  visibly  affected  by  his  words.  He  was  a  most  eloquent  and 
effective  preacher.  His  eloquence  was  not  in  his  diction  merely ; 
it  was,  indeed,  reason  aflame.  His  intense  earnestness  gave 
power  and  even  beauty  to  his  sermons. 

"I  am  now  trying  to  describe  Father  McKenna  as  I  knew 
him  thirty-five  years  ago — from  1878  to  1881,  when  he  was 
prior  at  St.  Louis  Bertrand's  in  Louisville  and  before  that  time. 
He  was  a  man  of  tireless  energy  and  of  iron  frame.  You  could 
not  know  him  without  becoming  impressed  with  the  thought  that 
he  had  literally  obeyed  the  command  of  the  Master  to  leave  all 
things  and  follow  Him.  His  whole  mind,  heart  and  soul  were 
devoted  freely  and  ungrudgingly  to  the  duties  of  his  high  call- 
ing. He  was  always  and  everywhere  the  priest,  never  for  an 
instant  forgetting  the  sublime  dignity  of  his  office;  yet  always 
humble  and  approachable  as  a  child.  His  wide  experience  as  a 
missionary  added  greatly  to  his  knowledge  of  men.  He  was  a 
splendid  conversationalist,  gifted  and  entertaining  to  a  marked 
degree.  During  his  pastorate  at  St.  Louis  Bertrand's,  his  in- 
fluence was  most  marked  on  the  men  of  the  parish.  He  devoted 
most  of  his  energy  to  them.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  Holy 
Name  Society  in  Louisville  and  in  many  other  cities  throughout 
the  country.  The  impression  he  made  in  Saint  Louis  Bertrand's 


170  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

has  never  been  effaced.  He  will  be  long  remembered  by  all  who 
had  the  pleasure  and  the  privilege  of  knowing  him  as  a  typical 
son  of  St.  Dominic,  whose  heart  was  always  burning  with  the 
apostolic  zeal,  which  has  made  the  name  of  the  Dominicans 
blessed  throughout  the  world — an  ornament  and  honor  to  the 
Church  in  so  many  lands."2 

2  Letter  from  Judge  Matthew  O'Doherty,  Louisville,  Kentucky,  June  25, 
1915. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

PREACHER  GENERAL:  HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS. 
(1880-1882) 

ALTHOUGH  Father  McKenna,  on  the  expiration  of 
his  priorship  in  Louisville,  remained  assigned  to  Saint 
Louis  Bertrand's,  he  returned  to  the  convent  of  Saint 
Vincent  Ferrer;  for  New  York  was  the  most  con- 
venient center  from  which  to  reach  and  to  arrange  for 
the  greater  number  of  the  missions  then  given  by  the 
eastern  band  of  missionaries. 

As  a  successful  conductor  of  parochial  missions  the 
distinguished  Dominican  admittedly  had  now  no  su- 
perior in  the  United  States.  Some  there  were  who 
gave  him  the  first  place  as  a  pulpit  orator,  and  held 
that  the  country  had  seen  only  one  who  could  preach 
with  such  telling  effect — Father  Tom  Burke.  Al- 
though Father  Burke  certainly  surpassed  his  Amer- 
ican brother  in  more  than  one  respect,  it  may  be 
doubted  if  he  could  ever  have  equalled  him  in  that  di- 
rect, irresistible  appeal  to  the  heart  which  formed  one 
of  the  strongest  points  in  Father  McKenna's  oratory. 
Certainly,  too,  McKenna  exercised  a  greater  power 
over  men  than  Burke.  Indeed,  the  missionary's  name 
had  now  become  a  household  word  for  Catholics 
through  almost  all  the  land.  Had  he  died  at  this  early 
period  of  his  public  career,  he  would  still  have  deserved 
an  honorable  place  in  our  church  history.  Yet,  by 
comparison  with  what  he  was  destined  to  do,  his  work 
was  then  only  in  its  infancy. 

171 


172  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Far  removed  from  Europe  both  as  to  distance  and 
habits  of  thought,  the  American  Friars  Preacher  had, 
up  to  the  date  of  which  we  speak,  shown  slight  desire 
for  the  degrees  of  honor  conferred  by  the  Order  on  its 
subjects  as  a  reward  for  their  worth  and  ability. 
Early  in  the  summer  of  1881,  however,  the  Most  Rev. 
Joseph  Larroca,  the  first  Master  General  of  the  Order 
who  came  to  the  United  States,  arrived  in  New  York 
to  make  a  visitation  of  the  province.  Possibly  in 
commemoration  of  this  fact  he  wished  to  honor  some 
of  the  members  of  Saint  Joseph's  Province.  Accord- 
ingly, as  soon  as  he  reached  our  shores  he  began  to  seek 
information  for  this  purpose. 

In  the  mind  of  the  student  of  ecclesiastical  history 
great  learning  and  stirring  eloquence  are  inseparably 
associated  with  the  Order  of  Saint  Dominic.  So  true 
is  this  that  the  white  habit  and  black  mantle  of  the 
Friar  Preacher  at  once  suggest  the  academic  hall  and 
the  pulpit,  the  learned  lecture  and  the  eloquent  sermon. 
The  long,  thorough  course  of  studies  given  its  young 
men  by  the  institute,  presupposing  of  course  a  personal 
correspondence  and  application  on  their  part,  must 
cause  them  to  excel  in  one  or  both  of  these  fields  of 
intellectual  activity. 

Founded  especially  for  spreading  the  Gospel  truth, 
the  Order  from  its  earliest  days  began  to  frame  laws, 
the  purpose  of  which  was  to  form  successful  preachers 
for  its  active  apostolate.  The  keynote  of  all  such  en- 
actments was  that,  in  addition  to  zeal  and  an  exem- 
plary life,  both  learning  and  the  gift  of  eloquence  were 
necessary  for  the  fruitful  exercise  of  so  Christ-like  a 
function.  The  burden  of  much  of  the  institute's  con- 
stitutions is  largely  to  inculcate  the  idea  that  its  friars 


PREACHER  GENERAL.  173 

must  preach  no  less  by  their  example  than  by  their 
words ;  that  without  erudition  it  is  impossible  to  explain 
Christian  doctrine  to  the  people  as  it  should  be  ex- 
plained to  them ;  that  a  thorough  training  in  theology  is 
the  first  milestone  in  the  way  that  leads  to  a  successful 
career  in  the  Dominican's  prime  work — the  salvation  of 
souls  by  the  spoken  word.  Every  opportunity  was 
given,  every  encouragement  was  held  out  to  those  who 
showed  promise  for  this  active  ministry.  Both  to  re- 
ward their  efforts  and  to  place  the  seal  of  the  Order's 
approval  on  their  labors  the  degree  or  title  of  Preacher 
General  was  often  conferred  upon  those  who,  besides 
being  noted  for  their  model  lives,  had  preached  to  the 
people  for  some  years  with  marked  fruit.  The  degree 
was  regarded  as  a  pledge  of  distinction,  and  carried 
with  it  appreciable  privileges  in  the  religious  body. 
But  that  the  number  of  the  brethren  so  honored  might 
not  be  excessive,  it  was  enacted  by  law  that  in  no 
province  should  its  preachers  general  exceed  the  number 
of  its  convents. 

Father  Charles  H.  McKenna,  by  the  time  his  prior- 
ship  in  Louisville  expired,  had  filled  with  much  credit 
all  the  conditions  required  for  the  degree  of  preacher 
general.  His  work  and  Life  were  known  not  merely 
to  his  brethren,  but  to  the  country  at  large.  Father 
Larroca  soon  learned  of  this,  and  it  caused  him  to  con- 
ceive a  strong  affection  for  the  pious  missioner.  But 
that  which  appealed  with  a  special  force  to  the  visiting 
Master  General,  since  it  gave  him  the  most  tangible 
proof  that  his  American  subjects  were  filled  with  Saint 
Dominic's  thirst  for  souls,  was  the  edifying  spectacle 
of  some  two  thousand  Holy  Name  men  approaching 
holy  communion  in  a  body  in  the  church  of  Saint  Vin- 


174  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

cent  Ferrer,  New  York.  It  was  a  wondrous  sight — 
one  that  the  holy  man  had  never  witnessed  before,  not 
even  in  his  native  Catholic  Spain.  It  is  said  that  after 
his  return  to  Rome  Father  Larroca  often  spoke  of 
this  manifestation  of  Catholic  faith  and  piety;  that  he 
held  up  the  fathers  of  Saint  Joseph's  Province  as 
examples  to  be  imitated  by  the  members  of  the  Order 
the  world  over  in  the  prosecution  of  the  apostolic  side 
of  its  life. 

The  superb  scene  seems  to  have  confirmed  the  Gen- 
eral in  his  design  of  distributing  a  few  of  the  Order's 
honors  among  the  members  of  the  American  province ; 
for  it  was  then  that  he  suggested  that  the  names  of 
some  of  the  fathers  who  had  signalized  themselves  in 
the  active  ministry  and  had  fulfilled  the  conditions  re- 
quired to  become  preachers  general,  should  be  pro- 
posed for  that  degree  at  the  approaching  chapter  over 
which  he  was  to  preside  in  person.  Accordingly,  when 
the  various  superiors  assembled  at  Saint  Vincent 
Ferrer's  (July,  1881)  to  elect  a  new  provincial,  they 
petitioned  that  Fathers  James  V.  Edelen,  Jeremiah  P. 
Turner,  Hugh  F.  Lilly  and  Charles  H.  McKenna  be 
made  preachers  general  for  the  four  convents  then  in 
the  province — Saint  Rose's  and  Saint  Louis  Bertrand's 
in  Kentucky,  Saint  Joseph's  in  Ohio,  and  Saint  Vin- 
cent Ferrer's,  New  York.  It  was  asked  that  Father 
McKenna  be  appointed  to  this  office  for  the  priory  in 
Louisville  for  which  he  had  done  so  much. 

Almost  immediately  on  his  arrival  in  the  Eternal 
City,  Father  Larroca  assembled  his  council,  and  on 
September  18,  1881,  forwarded  Rev.  Michael  D.  Lilly, 
the  newly  elected  provincial,  letters  patent  constitut- 
ing the  above  named  priests  preachers  general.  It 


PREACHER  GENERAL.  175 

was  the  first  time  this  honor  had  ever  been  bestowed 
upon  a  Dominican  in  the  United  States.  When  the 
documents  arrived,  Father  McKenna  was  engaged  on 
a  mission  in  Fitchburg,  Massachusetts.  His  papers, 
therefore,  were  sent  by  the  provincial  to  Fitchburg 
with  the  following  characteristically  brief  letter: 

"NEW  YORK, 
"October  12,  1881. 
"  Dear  Father  McKenna: 

"  It  is  with  great  pleasure  that  I  have  the  privilege  of  sending 
you  the  enclosed  *  Letters  Patent'  constituting  [you]  a  Preacher 
General  with  all  the  rights  and  privileges  attached  to  that  hon- 
orable and  responsible  position  in  our  Order.  I  can  hardly  tell 
you  how  glad  I  am  that  you  received  it,  and  how  sensible  I  am 
how  deserving  I  know  you  to  be  of  it.  That  you  may  long  con- 
tinue to  labor  in  the  cause  of  Holy  Church  and  of  our  holy  Order 
is  the  wish  of  your  old  friend, 

"M.  D.  LILLY." 

The  document  conferring  the  honor  reads: 

"Father  Joseph  M.  Larroca,  Professor  of  Sacred  Theology 
and  humble  Master  General  and  Servant  of  the  Order  of  Friars 
Preacher,  to  Our  beloved  son  in  God,  Father  Charles  Hyacinth 
McKenna,  of  the  same  Order  and  of  the  Province  of  Saint 
Joseph,  in  North  America. 

"It  is  proper  that  those  who  excel  in  preaching  the  Gospel 
should  be  invested  with  special  honors  and  favors.  Since,  there- 
fore, as  we  have  learned,  you  have  so  preached  the  Word  of  God 
for  many  years,  and  moved  thereto  by  the  request  of  your  Prov- 
ince— first  absolving  you,  Rev.  Father  Charles  Hyacinth  Mc- 
Kenna, from  all  excommunication  and  other  ecclesiastical  im- 
pediment, should  you  be  bound  by  any,  to  the  end  that  these 
presents  may  have  their  effect — ,  by  apostolic  authority,  these 
Letters  Patent  and  the  power  invested  in  Our  Office  We  institute 
and  make  you  Preacher  General  for  Our  Convent  of  Saint  Louis 


176  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Bertrand,  with  a  vote  [that  is,  an  elective  vote  in  provincial 
chapters],  and  with  all  the  favors,  privileges,  immunities  and 
exemptions  which  Preachers  General  are  accustomed  and  ought 
to  enjoy  in  Our  Order  and  in  your  Province.  We  command, 
in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  virtue  of  holy  obedience  and 
under  formal  precept,  that  you  accept  this  office  and  charge; 
that  you  exercise  it  worthily  and  with  fruit ;  that  you  remember 
it  is  conferred  upon  you  not  for  your  personal  ease,  but  for  the 
public  good  of  the  Order  and  the  Christian  Religion.  Further- 
more, We  command  all  persons  subject  to  Our  authority  under 
the  same  formal  precept  to  receive,  treat  and  honor  you  as  a 
truly  and  lawfully  instituted  Preacher  General.  In  the  Name 
of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Amen. 
All  things,  etc.  In  testimony  whereof,  etc. 

"  Given  in  Our  Convent  of  Saint  Mary  of  the  Minerva,  Rome, 
September  18,  1881. 

"FATHER  RAYMOND  BIANCHI, 
"Procurator  General  and  Vicar  of  the  Master 
General  of  the  Order. 

"FATHER  THOMAS  M.  GAUDENGI, 
"  Master  in  Theology,  Provincial  of  Dacia 
and  Socius" 

The  novelty  of  the  creation  of  four  preachers  gen- 
eral in  the  province  at  one  time  caused  no  little  excite- 
ment and  gratification.  Although  the  choice  of  the 
four  men  was  a  popular  one,  none  of  the  appointments 
gave  greater  pleasure  than  that  of  Father  McKenna. 
The  provincial's  letter  of  congratulation  but  mildly 
voiced  the  sentiments  of  the  brethren  in  general,  while 
the  news  of  the  honor  that  had  come  to  the  distin- 
guished missioner  spread  rapidly  through  the  country 
and  was  the  occasion  of  keen  delight  to  his  numerous 
friends  and  admirers. 

In  the  letters  appointing  him  a  preacher  general, 


HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS.  177 

Father  McKenna  was  told  that  the  dignity  which  had 
been  conferred  upon  him  did  not  mean  that  he  could 
now  rest  from  his  labors,  but  that  he  should  make  use 
of  the  prestige  it  gave  for  the  good  of  religion.  Lit- 
erally did  he  obey  this  command.  Nor  was  the  test  of 
his  obedience  long  delayed,  for  the  next  two  years  were 
peculiarly  trying  for  the  good  friar.  Through  the  ill- 
ness of  some  of  the  priests  who  were  wont  to  aid  on  the 
missions,  the  occupation  of  others  in  positions  that  in- 
terfered with  this  labor,  and  a  temporary  scarcity  of 
missionary  talent,  those  who  remained  at  the  work  were 
obliged,  as  he  expressed  it,  to  "multiply  themselves  to 
prevent  a  loss  of  souls  and  of  the  Order's  good  name." 
It  was  only  by  the  most  strenuous  efforts  that  the  diffi- 
cult, though  brief  period  was  happily  tided  over  until 
some  of  the  former  missioners  returned  to  their  posts 
and  new  recruits  could  be  sent  into  the  field.  No  one, 
it  is  safe  to  say,  could  have  "  multiplied  "  himself  more 
than  did  Father  McKenna. 

It  was,  therefore,  perhaps  fortunate  that  somewhat 
prior  to  receiving  the  degree  of  preacher  general  the 
zealous  missionary  had  been  appointed  to  another  post 
of  honor  and  responsibility.  In  1880,  while  he  was 
still  superior  of  the  convent  in  Louisville,  Father  Mc- 
Kenna was  made  head  of  the  Dominican  missions  east 
of  the  Mississippi  River,  a  position  that  enabled  him 
to  accomplish  more  than  he  could  otherwise  have  done 
at  this  trying  juncture.  Again  and  again  he  received 
this  appointment  from  successive  chapters  of  the  prov- 
ince, holding  the  office  for  nearly  thirteen  years. 

The  present  distinct  missionary  band,  with  its  head- 
quarters in  Louisville,  Kentucky,  and  with  the  south 
and  near  mid-west  as  the  field  of  its  operations,  had  not 

13 


178  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

yet  come  into  existence.  Thus  Father  McKenna's 
position  as  head  of  the  missions  placed  under  his  charge 
all  the  fathers  engaged  in  this  work  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi River  and  imposed  on  him  the  arduous  task  of 
accepting  and  arranging  for  all  Dominican  missions 
given  through  fully  one  third  of  the  United  States. 
Creditably  indeed  did  he  acquit  himself  of  this  grave 
responsibility.  Everywhere  the  Friars  Preacher  were 
in  great  demand;  everywhere  they  gave  satisfaction 
and  received  much  praise  for  their  zeal  and  the  effec- 
tiveness of  their  labors.  During  the  period  covered 
by  this  chapter  we  can  trace  them  at  their  work  from 
the  city  of  Boston  to  the  banks  of  the  Mississippi — 
from  Buffalo  and  Detroit  to  Galveston,  Texas.  In 
the  accounts  of  the  many  missions  they  gave,  no  name 
is  mentioned  oftener  than  that  of  Rev.  C.  H.  Mc- 
Kenna;  no  priest  is  spoken  of  in  terms  quite  so 
laudatory. 

Despite  the  handicap  in  numbers,  their  extraordi- 
nary activity  attracted  the  attention  of  the  country 
from  ocean  to  ocean,  causing  the  editor  of  the  San 
Francisco  Monitor,  who  had  written  frequent  notices 
of  their  apostolic  labors  for  the  edification  of  the  Cath- 
olics of  the  Pacific  coast,  to  write  a  summary  of  the 
missionary  efforts  of  the  Dominicans  of  the  California 
province  for  the  edification  of  its  readers  in  the  east.1 

The  hard-working  head  of  the  missions  put  forth  his 
best  efforts  to  make  their  fruitage  more  abundant,  and 
strove  to  bind  the  people  closer  to  Christ  and  His 
Blessed  Mother  through  the  Holy  Name  Society  and 
the  Rosary  Confraternity.  He  had  the  fathers  under 
his  charge  establish  both  sodalities  wherever  possible, 

i  Freeman'!  Journal,  January,  1882. 


HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS.  179 

and  urged  them  to  labor  for  their  increase.  The  num- 
bers enrolled  under  the  banner  of  the  Holy  Name  in 
the  places  where  it  was  established  at  this  period  ran 
from  one  hundred  to  eight  hundred;  the  increase  of 
members  in  the  churches  where  it  previously  existed 
was  from  one  hundred  to  two  hundred.  The  growth 
of  the  Rosary  Confraternity  was  still  more  noteworthy. 
In  the  parishes  where  it  was  newly  established,  from 
two  hundred  to  over  two  thousand  persons  were  en- 
rolled, while  in  those  where  it  already  existed,  its  mem- 
bership was  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  from  three 
to  five  hundred  names.  But  three  parishes  (Saint 
Joseph's,  Somerville,  and  Saint  John's,  Clinton, — 
Massachusetts — ,  and  the  Immaculate  Conception, 
Rochester,  New  York)  deserve  special  mention  for 
the  eagerness  with  which  their  people  joined  these 
two  societies.  At  the  last  place,  indeed,  practically 
the  entire  congregation  was  enrolled  in  them.  It 
is  gratifying  to  note  that  while  Father  McKenna 
and  his  co-laborers  sought  earnestly  to  propagate 
the  Holy  Name  Society,  the  Rosary  Confraternity 
and  the  Angelic  Warfare,  their  broad  spirit  made 
them  no  less  zealous  to  quicken  interest  in  what- 
ever other  sodalities  they  found  existing.  Other  things 
worthy  of  notice  in  these  missions  are  the  numerous 
converts  and  the  throngs  of  people  who  approached 
the  sacraments.  With  good  reason  might  the  humble 
head  of  the  eastern  missions  have  taken  an  honest  pride 
in  the  success  of  the  first  years  of  his  management. 
To  appreciate  the  full  meaning  of  the  numbers  who 
approached  the  sacraments  and  were  enrolled  in  the 
Holy  Name  and  Rosary  societies  at  these  missions,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  frequent  communion  was  by 


180  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

no  means  so  common  in  those  days  as  it  is  now;  daily 
communion  was  most  rare.  Yet  one  of  the  prime  ob- 
jects of  these  two  sodalities  is  precisely  to  foster  this 
Catholic  practice.  Possibly  a  taint  of  Jansenism  had 
been  brought  to  the  United  States  from  Continental 
Europe  where  the  influence  of  that  error  was  still  felt, 
and  this  was  visible  in  the  rather  general  custom  of  re- 
ceiving the  sacraments  only  at  long  intervals.  This  was 
particularly  the  case  with  the  men.  Besides,  the  rigid 
formalities  with  which  Rome  then  surrounded  the  two 
confraternities  tended  rather  to  hinder  than  to  further 
their  propaganda.  For  these  rules,  in  addition  to  pre- 
venting the  organization  of  the  Holy  Name  Society  or 
the  Rosary  Confraternity  in  more  than  one  church  in 
a  city,  be  it  ever  so  large,  practically  denied  the  hier- 
archy and  the  diocesan  clergy  any  rights  in  their  propa- 
gation other  than  to  consent  to  their  establishment  and 
to  foster  them  once  they  had  been  established — a  cir- 
cumstance that  tended  to  dry  up  the  fountains  of  sym- 
pathy so  necessary  for  their  growth.  All  this  gives 
added  significance  to  the  increase  of  their  membership 
at  this  period  and  for  some  years  to  come.  It  also 
shows  the  zeal  of  the  fathers  laboring  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Father  McKenna  to  promote  frequent  com- 
munion and  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  which 
is,  after  all,  the  center  from  which  all  other  devotions 
of  the  Church  radiate,  as  it  is  the  end  to  which  they 
lead. 

Now  that  he  had  been  appointed  head  of  the  prin- 
cipal missionary  band,  Father  McKenna  did  not  neg- 
lect to  use  all  the  influence  this  position  gave  him  to 
obtain  the  withdrawal  of  the  restrictions  surrounding 
the  Holy  Name  Society  and  the  Rosary  Confraternity, 


HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS.  181 

that  he  might  establish  them  wherever  they  were  de- 
sired. But  many  years  were  to  pass  before  he  pro- 
cured this  favor.  Rome  moves  slowly.  Hence, 
although  it  had  been  agreed  in  principle  at  a  prior  date 
to  allow  these  societies  to  exist  in  many  churches  of  the 
same  city,  provided  special  permission  was  asked  in 
each  instance,  further  powers  were  then  denied.  While 
this  put  the  good  missioner  to  great  inconvenience,  his 
zeal  shrank  before  no  difficulty  in  the  accomplishment 
of  his  end.  Never  did  he  hesitate  to  write  for  the  re- 
quired leave  when  he  saw  an  opportunity  of  erecting 
one  or  both  of  his  cherished  confraternities  in  a  parish. 
While  it  was  by  no  means  one  of  his  greatest  mis- 
sions during  this  period,  an  account  of  that  given  at 
Oliphant,  Pennsylvania,  in  the  fall  of  1882  both 
gives  a  fair  idea  of  the  distinguished  friar's  preach- 
ing at  this  time  and  makes  a  fitting  closing  for  the 
present  chapter.  We  select  this  mission  because  Oli- 
phant's  Catholic  population  was  largely  'composed  of 
laboring  men — the  class  among  whom  the  holy  priest 
loved  to  work.  To  move  such  an  audience  to  tears  is 
indeed  a  triumph;  but  it  was  not  an  unusual  thing  at 
Father  McKenna's  missions  to  see  the  strongest  men — 
even  hardened  sinners — shed  copious  tears  during  his 
sermons.  Of  the  apostle's  labors  in  the  Pennsylvania 
mining  town  on  this  occasion,  the  Catholic  Review's 
correspondent  writes: 

"  OLIPHANT, 
"  Nov.  15,  1882. 

"  The  mission  conducted  by  the  Dominican  Fathers  closed  here 
on  Sunday  evening,  Nov.  5th.  Throughout  the  entire  mission, 
which  lasted  two  weeks,  the  deepest  interest  was  manifested  by 
the  whole  congregation.  Whether  at  early  Mass  at  five  o'clock 


182  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

in  the  morning,  or  at  the  service  in  the  evening,  the  church  was 
always  filled  with  eager,  anxious  people  to  receive  the  instruc- 
tions and  blessings  given  by  those  zealous,  holy  men.  The  ser- 
mons were  delivered  by  Fathers  McKenna  and  Turner,  and  each 
subject  was  presented  in  that  clear,  eloquent  and  forceful  man- 
ner which  carried  with  it  conviction  to  the  heart  of  every  listener. 
Father  McKenna,  particularly,  possesses  those  talents  which 
make  him  a  most  pleasing  and  effective  preacher;  and  on  several 
occasions  his  hearers  were  moved  to  tears  by  the  earnestness  of 
his  manner  and  sincerity  of  purpose  with  which  he  entered  upon 
his  discourse.  Take  it  all  in  all,  it  was  the  best  mission  we  have 
ever  had  in  this  part  of  the  valley,  and  one  of  invaluable  benefit 
to  the  Catholic  portion  of  the  community.  The  good  work  done 
by  the  Dominican  Fathers  will  long  be  remembered,  and  have 
its  beneficial  influence  among  us ;  and  the  thanks  of  the  congre- 
gation are  due  their  faithful  pastor,  the  Rev.  P.  O'Rorke,  for 
bringing  into  their  midfet  such  earnest  missionaries."2 

True  to  the  spirit  and  traditions  of  the  religious 
organization  to  which  he  belonged,  the  tireless  head  of 
the  missions,'  now  that  he  had  a  freer  hand,  sought,  in 
addition  to  his  other  labors,  more  than  ever  to  extend 
the  blessings  of  his  institute  to  the  faithful.  Thus,  for 
instance,  although  he  had,  from  the  commencement  of 
his  apostolic  life,  earnestly  propagated  the  Third  Order 
of  Saint  Dominic  living  in  the  world,  Father  McKenna 
now  began  to  promote  it  with  renewed  care.  In  truth, 
from  this  time  until  he  was  no  longer  able  to  toil,  his 
zeal  in  this  sacred  cause  for  good  seems  to  have  grown 
with  the  passing  years,  causing  him  to  become  a  real 
apostle  of  the  secular  Third  Order  in  the  United 
States.  But  of  these  varied  efforts  for  the  welfare  of 
souls  we  shall  speak  more  at  length  in  the  next  chapter. 

2  Catholic  Review,  December  2,  1882. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

A  VARIED  APOSTOLATE. 
(188^-1885) 

FAITHFUL  to  his  vocation,  the  earnest  Friar  Preacher 
kept  steadily  at  his  post  of  duty.  From  east  to  west, 
from  north  to  south,  he  traversed  and  re-traversed  the 
country  to  fill  his  engagements  for  missions  in  widely 
separated  parts.  His  work  was  trying  in  the  extreme, 
but  the  gratifying  results  that  everywhere  accompanied 
his  apostolate  sustained  him  in  his  exertions. 

Father  McKenna's  travels  and  his  efforts  to  reclaim 
or  to  save  the  faithful  from  the  thraldom  of  sin  were 
not  unlike  those  of  Bartholomew  de  las  Casas  to  free 
or  to  protect  the  Indians  of  Spanish  America  from 
enslavement.  Though  he  was  cast  in  a  milder  mould, 
as  he  lived  in  a  milder  age,  than  his  confrere  of  old — 
though  his  life  and  his  language  were  not  so  bold  or 
so  picturesque  as  those  of  the  medieval  friar — the  mis- 
sioner's  zeal  was  not  less  ardent,  nor  his  energy  less 
tireless.  While  his  labors,  because  more  spiritual  and 
less  humanitarian  than  those  of  Las  Casas,  were  not 
so  likely  to  appeal  to  the  sympathy  of  men  or  to  make 
history,  yet  to  the  Catholic's  way  of  thinking  they  de- 
served as  great  a  reward  from  the  Lord  of  all.  Of 
Father  McKenna,  indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  his  was 
one  of  those  few  lives  that  are  almost  beyond  biogra- 
phy, and  that  the  histories  of  the  Dominican  missions, 
the  Holy  Name  Society  and  the  Rosary  Confraternity 
would  have  to  be  written  in  order  to  illustrate  it. 

183 


184  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

The  friar's  work  as  a  missioner,  one  would  think, 
should  have  satisfied  even  the  most  zealous  ambassador 
of  Christ.  Yet  he  was  ever  in  search  either  of  new 
ways  of  advancing  the  cause  of  the  missions  or  of  new 
instruments  for  doing  good.  Thus  we  now  find  him 
editing  another  book  towards  the  translation  of  which 
he  had  himself  contributed.  This  was  the  well  known 
Sinner's  Guide  by  the  grand  old  Dominican  master 
of  the  spiritual  life,  Louis  of  Granada.1  This  new 
rendition  of  The  Sinner's  Guide  was  warmly  re- 
ceived by  religious  communities,  brought  consolation 
to  many  spiritual-minded  persons,  and  aided  greatly  in 
arousing  fervor  during  missions  and  retreats. 

Having  gradually  added  to  his  supply  of  lectures, 
Father  McKenna  appears  to  have  given  at  this  period 
more  time  to  this  particular  work  than  in  previous 
years.  This  was  possibly  because  he  was  now  freer  to 
do  so  in  consequence  of  the  increase  in  the  number  of 
missionaries.  About  this  time  also  he  began  to  speak 
on  a  national  evil  that  had  grown  to  such  proportions 
as  to  engross  the  attention  of  all  classes — marriage  and 
divorce.  His  lecture  on  this  subject  became  im- 
mensely popular,  and  for  many  years  he  was  often 
solicited  to  deliver  it.  It  was  given  in  many  parts  of 
the  United  States,  was  received  everywhere  with  ap- 
plause and  accorded  highly  favorable  comment  by  the 
public  press.  Other  topics  on  which  he  lectured  with 
notable  success  were  different  phases  of  Ireland's  his- 
tory and  faith — subjects  then  in  greater  demand  than 

i  The  Sinner's  Guide  is  perhaps  the  best  known  of  the  many  excellent 
spiritual  writings  of  the  Venerable  Louis  of  Granada.  It  had  been  abomi- 
nably rendered  into  English  at  an  early  date.  Father  McKenna  used  this 
old  English  version  and  a  French  translation  in  getting  out  his  edition. 


A  VARIED  APOSTOLATE.  185 

today — and  various  points  of  Catholic  doctrine  and 
practice. 

He  also  appears,  perhaps  for  the  same  reason,  to 
have  preached  special  sermons  more  frequently  than 
before — to  have  been  more  in  demand  as  the  speaker 
for  such  occasions  as  the  laying  of  corner-stones  or  the 
dedication  of  churches.  But  besides  being  a  priest  of 
intense  zeal  and  piety,  Father  McKenna  was  a  most 
charitable  man,  and  for  this  reason  his  lectures  and 
special  discourses  were  frequently  delivered  in  behalf 
of  some  Christian  charity.  This  kind  of  work,  how- 
ever, he  considered  as  secondary  in  his  life  in  compari- 
son with  that  of  gathering  souls  to  Christ  through 
parochial  missions.  Rarely,  therefore,  could  he  be  in- 
duced to  accept  invitations  to  lecture  or  to  preach  such 
special  sermons,  however  strong  their  appeal,  if  to  do 
so  would  in  any  way  interfere  with  his  missionary 
work. 

Societies  for  men — especially  for  young  men,  for 
whom  he  had  a  partiality — were  another  matter  in 
which  he  was  keenly  concerned.  Father  McKenna 
felt  that  these  societies  were  an  undisguised  blessing; 
he  advocated  them  strongly,  and  his  services,  when 
time  permitted,  were  freely  at  their  disposal.  He 
knew  how  attractive  to  men  societies  in  general  are, 
and  believed  that  such  organizations,  under  proper 
auspices,  would  be  a  means  of  preventing  many  Catho- 
lic men  from  joining  the  secret  societies  banned  by  the 
Church.  The  missionary  often  lectured  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Catholic  Knights  of  America,  in  whom  he  was 
deeply  interested,  for  he  was  convinced  that,  like  the 
Knights  of  Columbus,  if  conducted  along  sane  lines, 
they  could  and  would  do  much  good  for  the  Church 


186  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

in  the  United  States  and  for  the  male  portion  of  her 
membership. 

Another  society — more  limited  in  its  scope  and  more 
local  in  its  influence — that  elicited  Father  McKenna's 
concern  at  this  time  was  the  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's 
Union  attached  to  the  church  of  the  same  name  in 
New  York.  This  association,  organized  late  in  1883 
or  early  in  1884,  has  since  come  to  be  known  as  the 
Dominican  Lyceum.  It  is  composed  of  Catholic 
young  men;  its  purpose  is  their  religious,  mental  and 
social  improvement.  From  its  beginning  it  appealed 
to  Father  McKenna,  and  to  enable  it  to  secure  a  read- 
ing room  and  acquire  the  nucleus  of  a  library  he  de- 
livered, February  17,  1884,  his  noted  lecture  "Mar- 
riage and  Divorce"  in  the  Church  of  Saint  Vincent 
Ferrer.  Nor  did  he  lose  his  interest  in  the  society  as 
long  as  he  lived. 

Through  the  impulse  given  them  by  the  head  of  the 
eastern  missions  we  find  interest  in  the  Rosary  and  the 
Holy  Name  societies  becoming  more  and  more  pro- 
nounced through  the  country.  Besides  the  efforts  for 
their  extension  made  at  the  missions,  the  Dominicans, 
under  the  leadership  of  Father  McKenna,  had  now 
begun  to  conduct  retreats  and  special  spiritual  exer- 
cises of  a  week's  duration  for  Holy  Name  men  and 
rosarians  with  the  best  of  results. 

But  Father  McKenna  clearly  distinguished  between 
Catholic  societies  and  societies  for  Catholics.  To  the 
former  belonged  the  Rosary  Confraternity  and  the 
Holy  Name  Society — to  the  latter,  organizations  of 
the  character  of  the  Catholic  Knights  of  America,  the 
Knights  of  Columbus  and  the  Saint  t Vincent  Ferrer's 
Union.  He  was  strongly  averse  to  seeing  the  Rosary 


A  VARIED  APOSTOLATE.  187 

and  the  Holy  Name  sodalities  turned  from  their 
strictly  religious  aims  into  channels  of  church  aid  or 
benevolent  purposes.  Other  societies,  he  felt,  should 
be  established  for  such  ends,  and  these  two  confrater- 
nities devoted  exclusively  to  their  specific  work  of 
sanctifying  souls.  To  save  souls,  he  maintained,  was 
their  sole  mission;  to  divert  them  to  other  purposes 
were  to  drag  them  from  their  high  spiritual  position, 
lower  them  in  the  esteem  of  the  faithful  and  lessen 
their  efficacy.  \ 

In  his  labors  as  a  missionary  Father  McKenna  dis- 
covered that  in  many  places  both  the  Rosary  Confra- 
ternity and  the  Holy  Name  Society  had  been  formed 
without  observing  the  requirements  of  the  Church.  In 
these  cases,  of  course,  the  sodalities  were  devoid  of 
proper  legal  standing  and  their  members  deprived  of 
the  many  indulgences  or  favors  with  which  they  are 
enriched.  In  his  charity  the  zealous  priest  either  used 
his  own  faculties  or  wrote  to  Rome  for  authorization — 
as  the  circumstances  demanded — to  heal  these  irregu- 
larities wherever  found.  And  to  prevent  such  recur- 
rences he  endeavored  not  only  by  word  of  mouth,  but 
through  the  Catholic  press  and  leaflets  which  he  sent 
broadcast,  to  make  the  law  governing  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Dominican  Rosary  and  the  Holy  Name 
more  generally  known. 

At  this  period  also  we  find  Father  McKenna  fre- 
quently requested  to  give  a  course  of  doctrinal  lectures 
during  his  missions.  As  these  requests  came  either 
from  non-Catholics  themselves  or  from  Catholics  who 
desired  to  have  the  teachings  of  the  Church  explained 
to  their  Protestant  friends,  it  is  quite  probable  that 
they  were  due  at  least  in  part  to  the  report  that  had 


188  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

gone  abroad  of  his  sermon  at  the  obsequies  of  Jerome 
Collins  of  which  we  have  presently  to  speak.  These 
doctrinal  discourses  which,  for  want  of  time  at  any 
other  part  of  the  day,  had  to  be  delivered  early  in  the 
afternoon,  not  only  attracted  much  attention  and  drew 
large  crowds,  but  resulted  in  many  conversions  to  the 
faith.  But  as  this  addition  to  his  already  heavy  bur- 
den made  serious  inroads  on  the  missionary's  strength, 
he  was  obliged  after  some  years  to  discontinue  them. 

The  event  we  are  now  to  record  gained  a  wide 
notoriety  at  the  time  and  brought  a  personal  knowl- 
edge of  Father  McKenna's  eloquent  oratory  into 
circles  seldom  reached  by  him.  Although  non-Catho- 
lics often  attended  his  missions,  sermons  or  lectures, 
his  work  had  been  confined  mostly  to  those  of  his  own 
faith.  Catholic  pulpits  were  his  ordinary  rostrum,  the 
Gospels  of  the  Sundays  or  points  of  Catholic  doctrine 
the  usual  subjects  of  his  discourses.  The  event  of 
which  we  have  now  to  speak,  however,  was  of  both  a 
national  and  a  sensational  character.  For  the  reputa- 
tion of  both  the  Church  and  himself  it  demanded  the 
best  that  was  in  the  noted  preacher,  and  his  success 
was  such  that  the  occasion  requires  a  special  brief  word 
in  his  biography. 

In  the  summer  of  1879  the  interest  of  the  world  was 
aroused  over  a  polar  expedition  fitted  out  by  James 
Gordon  Bennett,  proprietor  of  the  New  York  Herald. 
The  staunch  little  vessel  "  Jeannette  "  sailed  from  San 
Francisco,  July  9  of  that  year,  under  the  command  of 
Lieutenant  George  W.  DeLong,  U.  S.  N.,  who  had 
been  the  navigating  officer  of  the  "Juniata"  in  1873, 
and  had  visited  the  frozen  north  in  search  of  the 
"  Polaris  "  which  had  been  lost  on  a  similar  expedition 


A  VARIED  APOSTOLATE.  189 

two  years  before.  DeLong  was  the  first  to  attempt 
to  explore  the  arctic  regions  via  the  Behring  Straits. 
Like  many  of  the  preceding  efforts  to  discover  the 
North  Pole,  the  daring  exploit  was  to  end  in  disaster. 
The  "  Jeannette"  was  crushed  in  the  ice,  in  77°  15'  N., 
155°  E.,  June  13,  1881.  Retracing  their  steps,  four- 
teen of  the  explorers  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Lena, 
Siberia.  Thence  two  were  sent  on  for  relief  and 
reached  safety.  The  others  died  of  cold  and  starvation 
in  the  fall  of  1881.  Their  bodies  were  recovered, 
March  23,  1882,  and  sent  back  to  the  United  States. 
Their  arrival  in  New  York  in  February,  1884,  again 
engrossed  the  attention  of  the  country. 

Among  the  brave  dead  was  one  Jerome  J.  Collins, 
a  member  of  the  Dominican  parish  of  Saint  Vincent 
Ferrer,  New  York,  and  an  intimate  friend  of  Father 
McKenna.  Collins  was  an  exemplary  Catholic,  a  man 
of  science,  a  reporter  on  the  New  York  Herald,  and 
the  founder  of  that  paper's  weather  service.  He  stood 
high  in  his  profession  and  community.  Of  Irish  birth, 
his  genial  Celtic  temperament  and  splendid  character 
had  won  him  a  wide  popularity  in  the  great  metropolis. 
For  these  reasons,  no  greater  honor  was  shown  any  of 
the  heroes  of  the  ill-fated  "Jeannette"  than  was  be- 
stowed upon  Collins.  Saint  Patrick's  Cathedral  was 
chosen  as  the  church  best  suited  for  his  mass  of 
requiem,  and  Father  McKenna  who  had  been  the  friend 
and  confessor  of  both  Mr.  Collins  and  his  mother,  was 
selected  by  Cardinal  McCloskey  as  the  orator  of  the 
occasion. 

The  solemnity  of  the  event  which  took  place,  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1884,  was  enhanced  by  the  fact  that  by  the 
side  of  Jerome  Collins'  bier  stood  that  of  his  mother 


190  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

who  had  died  in  the  meantime.     After  the  mass  the 
bodies  of  both  were  to  be  sent  to  Ireland,  there  to  be 
laid  to  rest  by  the  banks  of  the  River  Lee.     The  sen- 
sational nature  of  the  occasion  drew  people  of  every 
creed   and   walk   of   life   to  the   cathedral   until   the 
majestic  Gothic  structure  was  crowded  to  overflowing. 
During   his   lifetime   Collins   never   failed   to   visit 
Father  McKenna,  whenever  he  knew  that  he  was  in 
New  York,  to  bare  his  life  to  him  as  his  trusted  con- 
fessor and  spiritual  adviser.     Indeed,  one  of  the  last 
persons  the  explorer  went  to  see  before  starting  on  his 
northern  journey  was  his  priestly  counselor,  and  his 
errand  was  to  prepare  his  soul  for  the  perilous  expe- 
dition.    The  relations  between  the  two  men  were  most 
intimate.     Father  McKenna's  love  for  his  friends  was 
as  tender  as  his  longing  to  do  good  was  intense.     Thus 
while  his  affection  for  his  two  deceased  friends  ap- 
pealed to  the  great  orator's  heart,  the  multitude  of 
eager  listeners  told  the  zealous  priest  that  here  was  an 
opportunity  to  do  good.     That  he  rose  to  the  occasion 
was  the  verdict  of  all  who  heard  him.     His  strong, 
resonant  voice,  penetrating  into  the  most  remote  cor- 
ners of  the  vast  cathedral,  swayed  the  great  throng  of 
fully  five  thousand  persons  representing  every  shade  of 
religious  belief  and  disbelief.     Eloquent  speaker  that 
he  was,  the  holy  friar  possibly  surpassed  himself  in  this 
oration.     There    was    perhaps    not    one    in    the    vast 
audience  who  did  not  shed  copious  tears.     Numbers 
have  told  the  writer  that  Father  McKenna's  sermon 
over  the  remains  of  Jerome  Collins  and  his  mother  ex- 
celled in  point  of  oratory  anything  they  had  ever  heard. 
The  New  York  Herald  of  February  24,  1884,  in 
its  account  of  Mr.  Collins'  obsequies,  published  rather 


A  VARIED  APOSTOLATE.  191 

lengthy  extracts  from  the  missionary's  sermon.  While 
quite  inaccurate  and  imperfect,  as  quotations  from 
Catholic  sermons  in  secular  papers  generally  are,  these 
citations  still  serve  to  show  Father  McKenna  at  his 
work  of  gathering  souls  to  Christ,  and  to  give  an  idea 
of  his  style  of  oratory  when  not  speaking  on  a  purely 
religious  subject. 

We  regret,  however,  that  lack  of  space  does  not 
permit  us  to  give  the  reader  even  an  outline  of  this 
noted  oration.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  missionary — 
doubtless  for  the  benefit  of  the  non-Catholic  portion  of 
his  audience — took  occasion  to  speak  at  some  length 
on  the  position  of  the  Church  with  regard  to  science 
and  scientists,  and  explained  the  meaning  of  her  rites 
and  prayers  over  her  departed  members.  Perhaps, 
indeed,  this  part  of  his  discourse  appealed  not  less 
forcibly  to  those  not  of  the  faith  than  the  friar's  elo- 
quent description  of  the  dangers  of  a  polar  expedition 
at  that  day,  the  bravery  and  Christian  character  of 
Jerome  Collins,  and  the  scene  of  the  final  separation 
between  the  affectionate  mother  and  devoted  son. 

During  the  sermon  the  stillness  of  the  great  cathe- 
dral was  broken  only  by  the  voice  of  the  speaker  or  an 
occasional  sob  in  the  audience.  When  it  was  finished, 
there  came  a  hush.  Everyone  was  plainly  disappointed 
that  the  gifted  priest  had  not  spoken  at  greater  length 
— a  sure  proof  that  he  had  reached  the  hearts  of  all 
and  satisfied  the  most  sanguine  expectation  of  Cardinal 
McCloskey  who  had  chosen  him  as  the  orator  of  the 
occasion. 

Father  McKenna  was  not  a  litterateur.  His  busy 
life  left  him  little  time  for  the  acquirement  of  the  nice- 
ties of  literature.  While  he  studied  and  read  much, 


192  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

by  way  of  preparing  himself  for  his  work,  he  did  not 
always  pay  sufficient  attention  to  elegance  of  diction. 
Yet  at  times  his  rolling  periods  were  almost  classic; 
and  his  sermons  and  lectures  were  always  full  of 
thought.  This,  coupled  with  the  simplicity  of  his  lan- 
guage and  the  inimitable  way  in  which  he  gave  expres- 
sion to  his  ideas,  made  ample  amends  for  whatever 
was  lacking  from  a  literary  point  of  view.  And, 
after  all,  it  is  a  rare  thing  to  find  a  good  orator  who  is 
also  a  good  writer.  Father  McKenna  was  an  orator 
both  by  divine  gift  and  by  training.  Those  who  knew 
him,  therefore,  were  not  surprised  that  his  oration  at 
the  funeral  of  Jerome  Collins,  almost  extemporaneous 
as  it  was,  should  have  so  carried  away  the  distinguished 
assemblage.  How  it  appealed  to  the  newspaper  world 
may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  the  Herald's  account 
of  Mr.  Collins'  obsequies  is  longer  than  that  of  those 
of  Lieutenant  DeLong,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  ex- 
pedition; and  that  the  extracts  from  the  friar's  dis- 
course are  as  copious  as  those  from  the  eulogy  pro- 
nounced by  the  noted  Bishop  Potter  over  the  com- 
mander of  the  "  Jeannette"  and  six  of  his  comrades. 
No  doubt,  too,  the  pious  missioner's  efforts  did  much 
towards  toning  down  prejudice  and  giving  courage  to 
those  of  his  own  faith.  Of  those  who  were  present  on 
the  occasion  several  have  told  the  writer  that  they 
were  never  so  proud  of  their  religion  as  while  listen- 
ing to  Father  McKenna's  discourse. 

So  signal  a  triumph  might  have  turned  the  head  of 
many  another.  Not  so  with  our  humble  Dominican. 
Though  he  rejoiced  in  the  good  he  had  accomplished, 
he  referred  it  to  God,  the  source  of  all  blessings,  whose 
servant  he  was.  To  Father  McKenna  one  success  was 


A  VARIED  APOSTOLATE.  193 

but  an  inspiration  to  another  in  the  cause  of  his  Divine 
Master. 

But  it  is  now  time  to  return  to  the  missions  which 
were  ever  uppermost  in  the  friar's  mind,  and  which 
until  the  fall  of  1900  took  up  by  far  the  greater  por- 
tion of  his  apostolic  life.  Like  those  that  preceded 
them,  the  years  1884  and  1885  were  exceeding  produc- 
tive of  good.  The  seed  sown  by  Father  McKenna  and 
his  co-laborers  fell  upon  hungry  soil  that  gave  it  deep 
root,  enabling  it  to  produce  results  an  hundred  fold.  Be- 
cause, however,  of  the  number  of  these  spiritual  exer- 
cises, we  can  do  no  more  than  merely  touch  upon  some 
in  which  he  took  a  conspicuous  part. 

One  of  his  great  missions  belonging  to  1884  was 
given  in  the  church  of  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer,  New 
York,  which  opened  on  March  23  and  closed  on  April 
6.  The  interest  it  aroused  brought  people  from  almost 
every  part  of  the  city.  Thousands  approached  the 
sacraments;  the  Rosary  and  the  Holy  Name  confra- 
ternities were  much  enlarged;  many  wayward  Catho- 
lics were  brought  to  a  sense  of  their  religious  duties 
and  prepared  for  confirmation,  and  a  number  of  non- 
Catholics  started  on  the  road  to  Rome.  The  good 
effected  by  this  mission  so  impressed  Archbishop  Cor- 
rigan  that  he  attended  its  closing,  gave  the  papal  bene- 
diction and  addressed  the  vast  congregation. 

A  true  Dominican,  Father  McKenna  was  deeply  in- 
terested in  the  Third  Order  of  Saint  Dominic. 
Wherever  he  went,  he  was  anxious  to  receive  into  it 
those  whom  he  judged  to  be  of  a  temperament  suited 
to  its  aims.  A  book  in  which  he  was  accustomed  to 
write  the  names  of  those  whom  he  admitted  into  the 
Third  Order,  together  with  the  files  of  Catholic  papers, 

14 


194  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

serves  not  only  to  reveal  his  zeal  in  this  regard  but  to 
show  the  wide  expanse  of  territory  covered  by  him  in 
his  active  ministry.  We  find  him,  for  instance,  in  Oc- 
tober, 1884,  going  from  the  east  to  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky, and  thence  directly  to  Lowell,  Massachusetts. 
Again,  in  January,  1885,  we  may  follow  him  from 
New  York  to  Memphis,  Tennessee,  where  the  Catho- 
lics turned  out  en  masse  to  attend  the  spiritual  exer- 
cises; and  from  Memphis  to  Newport,  Rhode  Island. 
Again,  in  the  fall  of  1885,  we  see  him  going  from 
Lynn,  Massachusetts,  to  Zanesville,  Ohio,  from  Zanes- 
ville  to  Springfield,  Kentucky,  and  thence  back  to 
Newburyport,  Massachusetts.  At  all  these  places  he 
was  accorded  a  welcome  as  warm  as  that  given  him  at 
Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's,  New  York.  Yet  these  are  but 
instances  of  the  holy  man's  perpetual  labors  and  jour- 
neys for  the  salvation  of  souls. 

The  greater  part  of  this  period,  however,  was  de- 
voted to  New  York  and  New  England,  where  he  then 
enjoyed  his  greatest  popularity.  The  cities  of  Boston 
and  Brooklyn  appear  to  have  entered  into  something 
of  a  spiritual  rivalry  to  profit  by  his  ministrations. 
It  was  in  Saint  Augustine's  Church,  South  Boston, 
that  he  gave,  during  the  Lent  of  1885,  one  of  his  most 
successful  missions  of  that  year.  Owing  to  the  crowds 
that  attended,  it  was  necessary  to  double  the  exercises 
that  all  might  be  given  an  opportunity  to  make  the 
mission.  An  unprecedented  number  received  the  sac- 
raments. Many  who  up  to  that  time  had  not  been 
known  as  Catholics,  came  to  be  reconciled  with  their 
God — one  hundred  and  eighty-five  such  were  prepared 
for  confirmation — ,  thirteen  converts  were  started  on 
their  way  to  the  Church  and  one  thousand  persons  en- 


A  VARIED  APOSTOLATE.  195 

tered  the  confraternity  of  the  Rosary,  while  several 
hundred  joined  that  of  the  Holy  Name. 

This  spiritual  revival  was  immediately  followed  by 
another  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Cambridge,  where 
the  elite  of  the  university  city  were  aroused  to  en- 
thusiasm by  the  preaching  of  the  fathers  and  the 
course  of  doctrinal  lectures  delivered  by  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  in  the  afternoons.  From  Cambridge  the 
zealous  friar  went  to  Saint  Agnes'  Church,  Brooklyn. 
The  mission  at  Saint  Agnes'  commenced  on  Palm 
Sunday  and  continued  for  two  weeks.  As  contempo- 
rary accounts  both  show  him  and  his  co-laborers  at 
their  work  and  give  an  idea  of  the  secret  of  their 
success,  we  cannot  refrain  from  reproducing  that  which 
follows : 

"Father  McKenna,  O.P.,  assisted  by  Fathers  Turner,  O'Neil 
and  O'Mahoney,  of  the  same  Order,  have  been  conducting  a  mis- 
sion at  St.  Agnes'  Church,  Brooklyn,  during  the  past  week,  and 
it  has  been  attended  by  large  congregations.  Father  McKenna 
has  aged  somewhat  of  late  years.  His  hair  is  grayer  than  when 
he  conducted  the  last  mission  at  St.  Agnes'  Church  four  years 
ago,  but  his  voice  has  lost  none  of  its  clearness,  and  his  preach- 
ing none  of  its  persuasive  power.  The  crowds  hung  upon  his 
words  with  the  same  delight  that  has  characterized  them  ever 
since  the  eminent  Dominican  first  started  on  his  great  life's  work 
of  reclaiming  souls.  He  is  ably  assisted  by  the  young  priests 
whose  names  are  given  above.  I  could  not  but  think,  as  I  lis- 
tened to  the  sermons  that  these  men  preach,  as  I  observed  the 
crowds  that  flock  to  hear  them  and  the  effects  that  follow  their 
utterances,  that  the  secret  of  their  power  lies  in  their  simplicity. 
These  are  not  theoretical  exhorters,  hurling  Jeremiads  over  the 
heads  of  their  audiences,  but  men  who  interpret  and  expound  the 
teachings  of  God  in  words  so  plain,  direct,  simple,  and  withal  so 
eloquent,  that  the  most  ignorant  may  follow  them.  The  highest 


196  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

tributes  to  the  Catholic  missionaries  of  this  and  other  Orders  are 
to  be  found  in  the  results  that  they  bring  about."2 

It  was  shortly  after  this  mission  that  the  writer  had 
the  happiness  of  again  hearing  and  seeing  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  at  his  favorite  work  of  reclaiming  souls,  and 
of  making  the  acquaintance  of  another  of  the  mission- 
aries engaged  at  Saint  Agnes'.  As  our  recollection, 
which  is  still  vivid,  recalls  them,  the  appreciation  given 
above  is  not  exaggerated.  They  were  both  eloquent 
in  their  simplicity,  and  simple  even  in  their  eloquence. 
Again,  we  can  never  forget  how  Father  McKenna  il- 
lustrated the  points  of  his  sermons  by  quotations  from 
Scripture  or  by  examples  from  the  lives  of  the  saints. 
It  was  his  aim  ever  to  keep  within  the  mental  grasp  of 
the  lowliest  of  his  audience.  But  through  his  mastery 
of  the  art  of  oratory  this  he  could  do  without  preju- 
dice to  eloquence,  and  at  the  same  time  entertain  and 
instruct  the  most  highly  cultivated.  There  were  those, 
indeed,  who  held  that  this  happy  combination  of  sim- 
plicity with  eloquence  was  one  of  the  saintly  friar's 
most  striking  characteristics  as  a  public  speaker. 

More  than  once  has  the  reader's  attention  been  called 
to  Father  McKenna's  preference  to  labor  among  men. 
Perhaps  one  of  the  most  noteworthy  efforts  in  all  his 
years  as  a  missionary  in  this  line  was  at  a  mission  for 
the  men  of  the  cathedral  parish  of  Albany,  June,  1885. 
The  fervor  and  devotion  manifested  by  the  three  thou- 
sand who  attended  it  so  impressed  him  that  he  long 
retained  a  strong  affection  for  New  York's  capital  city. 

To  have  attempted  anything  more  than  a  bare  out- 
line of  Father  McKenna's  labors  during  these  three 
years  would  have  made  the  present  chapter  unduly 

zFreeman't  Journal,  April  11, 1885,  quoted  from  The  Catholic  Examiner. 


A  VARIED  APOSTOLATE.  197 

long.  Whatever  he  did  seemed  to  be  blessed.  Nor  is 
this  to  be  wondered  at,  since  in  all  things  he  was  wholly 
a  man  of  God,  seeking  the  things  of  heaven. 

From  the  beginning  of  his  missionary  career  his  high 
spirituality  and  burning  zeal  inspired  everyone  not 
only  with  confidence,  but  with  the  belief  that  he  pos- 
sessed the  secret  of  goodness,  piety  and  mercy  which 
he  longed  to  impart  to  others.  All  flocked  to  him  as 
to  a  true  priest  who  stood  between  them  and  God, 
whose  prayers  were  powerful,  and  whose  pleadings 
would  open  for  them  the  way  to  divine  compassion  and 
pardon.  With  age  and  experience  his  reputation  for 
supramundane  wisdom,  holiness  and  eloquence  had 
grown  until  now,  in  the  zenith  of  his  strength  and 
glory,  he  stood  to  the  forefront  as  one  of  the  great 
ecclesiastics  of  his  age  and  country.  Withal  one  of 
the  missionary's  most  winsome  traits  was  his  guileless 
simplicity  which  prevented  him  from  realizing,  or  even 
suspecting,  the  place  he  held  in  the  hearts  of  men  or 
the  influence  he  wielded  over  them. 


CHAPTER     XVI. 

MAGNETIC  ZEAL:  FIRST  VISIT  TO  ROME. 

(1886-1887) 

FATHER  McKENNA  possessed  an  extraordinary  per- 
sonal magnetism  which  not  only  drew  people  to  him, 
but  caused  their  affection  for  him  to  grow  stronger 
with  intimate  acquaintance.  It  was  the  more  attractive 
because  natural  and  wholly  unrecognized  by  himself. 
This  may  perhaps  explain  why  pastors,  once  they  had 
secured  his  services,  were  always  anxious  to  secure 
them  again  and  again.  Thus,  although  nine  months 
had  not  elapsed  since  he  had  conducted  a  mission  there, 
we  find  him  in  the  last  days  of  December,  1885,  giving 
a  week's  retreat  to  the  Holy  Name  men  of  Saint 
Agnes'  Church,  Brooklyn,  of  which  his  friend,  Rev. 
James  F.  Duffy,  was  pastor. 

This  retreat  began  a  busy  season's  work  for  Father 
McKenna,  for  from  that  time  until  the  middle  of  June, 
1886,  he  and  his  confreres  gave  thirty-eight  missions 
in  the  eastern  states  alone,  exclusive  of  spiritual  exer- 
cises such  as  that  of  which  we  have  just  spoken. 
Nearly  all  these  missions  were  of  two  weeks'  duration, 
while  from  two  to  six  missionaries  were  employed  on 
each  of  them.  Thus  the  head  of  the  missionary  band 
had  little  time  for  rest.  The  leading  sermons  to  the 
Holy  Name  men  of  Saint  Agnes',  which  may  serve  to 
give  an  idea  of  the  character  of  those  generally 
preached  by  the  saintly  clergyman  in  his  work  of  re- 
claiming souls,  were:  "Object  and  Necessity  of  a  Re- 

198 


MAGNETIC  ZEAL.  199 

treat";  "The  Two  Roads  of  Life";  "Human  and 
Divine  Law";  "A  Great  Social  Evil";  "Man,  When 
True,  and  When  False,  to  his  Dignity";  "Society's 
greatest  Safeguard";  "Thoughts  on  the  Future"; 
"Closing  Admonitions."  These  topics,  indeed,  when 
treated  as  Father  McKenna  knew  so  well  how  to  treat 
them,  were  well  calculated  to  produce  deep  and  lasting 
impressions  on  the  Catholic  mind. 

That  he  exerted  a  strong  influence  over  those  of  the 
faith — especially  men — ,  and  that  he  wielded  this  in- 
fluence with  all  his  might  for  the  welfare  of  their  souls 
is  common  knowledge.  In  whatever  Father  Mc- 
Kenna was  engaged  his  one  thought  was  to  make 
people  better.  Although  he  did  much  towards  propa- 
gating the  devotion  of  the  Rosary,  and  although  mul- 
titudes attended  his  missions,  hung  on  his  eloquent 
words,  or  flocked  around  his  confessional,  perhaps  the 
fruits  of  his  lahors  in  behalf  of  the  Holy  Name  were 
even  more  patent.  This  was  because  the  effects  of  his 
other  apostolates  were  more  confined  to  the  soul,  and 
thus  known  to  God  rather  than  to  man,  while  the 
notable  decrease  in  the  use  of  profane  and  indecent 
language  that  was  brought  about  through  the  Holy 
Name  Society  was  apparent  to  all.  The  Freeman's 
Journal  of  that  day  frequently  comments  on  the  bless- 
ing it  has  been  to  society.  We  cannot,  indeed,  pass 
over  here  an  editorial  of  that  paper  wherein  the  ob- 
servant Mr.  McMaster  tells  us,  in  his  characteristically 
quaint,  picturesque  language,  his  personal  experience 
in  this  matter. 

"Next  Sunday  [writes  the  distinguished  editor]  is  the  Feast 
of  the  Holy  Name  of  Jesus.  It  is  grateful, — moreover  it  seems 
an  obligation  for  us, — to  take  the  timely  occasion  of  speaking 


VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

of  the  Confraternity  of  the  Holy  Name, — established  in  so  many 
Parishes ;  and,  thank  God,  extending.  We  can  give  our  per- 
sonal testimony  to  the  great  good  this  Confraternity  has  accom- 
plished, in  the  last  fifteen  years,  in  New  York  and  Brooklyn. 
It  is,  we  cannot  recall  how  many  years  ago, — that  we  said,  in 
these  columns,  that  the  greatest  sin  of  the  Irish,  in  New  York, 
and  of  their  children, — was  not, — in  itself  at  least, — the  abuse 
of  intoxicating  liquors, — as  many  assert, — but  that  it  was  blas- 
phemy! The  horrible  use  of  the  adorable  name  of  Jesus,  and  of 
His  Mother, — in  rough  and  impious  talk.  It  has  been  most 
delightful  to  have  noticed, — among  working-men  on  the  streets, 
— and  among  the  young  boys, — bootblacks,  news-venders,  and 
the  like, — the  great  change  that  has  been  wrought.  May  this 
Society,  or  Sodality,  go  on,  increase  and  prosper.  It  is  true  the 
blasphemous  use  of  the  Holy  Name  was  the  result  of  heedless- 
ness,  and  want  of  instruction,  rather  than  of  any  intention  to 
blaspheme.  But,  all  the  same, — God  will  not  hold  guiltless  those 
who  thus  idly  mock  Him."1 

From  the  columns  of  the  same  paper  we  learn  that 
it  was  through  the  Holy  Name  Society  that  the  edify- 
ing Catholic  custom  of  raising  the  hat  or  bowing  the 
head  in  reverence  when  one  hears  the  sacred  name  of 
Christ  pronounced,  was  introduced  into  the  cities  of 
New  York  and  Brooklyn.  And  may  we  not  give 
much  of  the  credit  of  this  to  the  great  Dominican  mis- 
sionary? Father  McKenna's  labors  in  1886,  like  those 
of  the  preceding  year,  were  given  mostly  to  the  eastern 
states.  The  churches  of  Brooklyn,  of  Boston  and  its 
vicinity  again  reaped  rich  fruits  from  them.  But  now 
the  city  of  New  York,  where  the  province  had  won  its 
first  laurels  in  the  east  as  a  missionary  power,  became 
a  notable  center  of  his  activities. 

In  many  places  both  Catholics  and  non-Catholics, 

i  Freeman't  Journal,  January  9,  1886. 


MAGNETIC  ZEAL.  201 

attracted  by  his  fame,  came  to  attend  the  missions  in 
numbers  so  large  that  double  services  were  often  neces- 
sitated. In  this  way  the  labors  of  the  priests  were 
multiplied,  as  really  two  missions  were  given  simultane- 
ously where  there  was  supposed  to  be  but  one.  A 
notable  example  of  this  we  find  at  Saint  Patrick's 
Church,  Boston,  in  the  February  of  1886.  As  the 
sacred  edifice,  although  large,  was  by  no  means 
adequate  for  the  accommodation  of  all  who  came  to 
make  the  mission,  it  was  necessary  to  have  one  set  of  ser- 
ices  for  the  married  women  and  another  for  the  un- 
married during  the  first  week,  and  to  adopt  the  same 
method  for  the  men  during  the  week  allotted  to  them. 
Thus  four  weeks'  work  was  crowded  into  two.  It 
was  estimated  that  about  five  thousand  persons  listened 
to  the  sermons  each  day.  In  the  same  city  missions 
for  Rev.  John  Delahunty,  at  Saint  Francis  de  Sales, 
and  for  Rev.  Doctor  Byrne,  pastor  of  Saint  Joseph's, 
in  the  months  of  October  and  November,  brought 
almost  as  great  multitudes  and  were  almost  as  rich  in 
results. 

In  Brooklyn  the  mission  at  Saint  Ann's  (in  March 
and  April),  that  at  the  Church  of  the  Nativity  (in 
April)  and  that  at  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul's  (in  De- 
cember) deserve  special  mention.  They  created  a 
commendable  enthusiasm,  attracting  the  faithful  from 
many  parts  of  the  city.  The  eager  throngs  that 
jammed  these  churches  were  as  a  tonic  to  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  and  caused  him  to  rise  to  the  heights  of  his 
eloquence.  The  mission  at  Saint  Mary's,  Grand 
Street,  New  York,  was  not  less  noteworthy.  In  an- 
nouncing his  mission,  Rev.  Nicholas  J.  Hughes,  pastor 
of  Saint  Mary's,  thus  wrote — doubtless  in  order  to 


202  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

draw  numbers  to  his  own  church — of  that  which  had 
shortly  preceded  it  at  Saint  Ann's,  Brooklyn: 

"  Rev.  Father  McKenna,  O.P.,  one  of  the  greatest  preachers 
of  the  Dominican  Order  since  the  days  of  the  famous  Father 
Tom  Burke,  is  to  open  a  mission  in  this  church  on  the  second  of 
the  next  month  with  several  other  clergymen  of  the  same  Order. 
Their  success  recently  in  St.  Ann's  Church,  corner  of  Front  and 
Gold  streets,  Brooklyn,  gratified  the  pastor  of  that  parish  very 
much,  as  hundreds  approached  the  altar-rail,  who  would  hardly 
think  of  doing  so,  were  it  not  for  the  untiring  efforts  of  the 
Dominican  Fathers  during  the  late  mission."2 

Yet  other  missions  of  this  year  in  which  Father  Mc- 
Kenna took  part,  and  of  which  he  was  wont  to  speak  as 
being  specially  blessed  by  heaven,  were  those  of  the 
cathedrals  of  Hartford  and  Providence ;  the  Dominican 
churches  of  Saint  Dominic,  Washington,  D.  C.,  and 
of  Saint  Mary,  New  Haven;  Saint  Malachy's,  Phila- 
delphia, Saint  Mary's,  Yonkers,  Saint  Patrick's,  Fall 
River,  Saint  John's,  Peabody,  and  the  Most  Precious 
Blood,  Hyde  Park — the  last  three  in  Massachusetts. 
In  many  of  these  places  the  fathers,  unable  themselves 
to  hear  the  confessions  of  all  who  flocked  to  the  sacred 
tribunal,  were  obliged  to  call  to  their  assistance  the 
clergy  attached  to  the  various  churches  in  which  the 
missions  were  given. 

But  the  missions  at  the  cathedrals  of  Providence 
and  Hartford  and  that  at  Saint  Malachy's,  Philadel- 
phia, had  other  results  than  the  usual  spiritual  ones- 
results  of  which  it  falls  within  the  province  of  our 
biography  to  speak. 

The  reader  has  seen  how  the  candid  simplicity,  the 
unpretentious  piety  and  zeal  of  Father  McKenna 

2  Th»  Catholic  Review,  April  17,  1886. 


MAGNETIC  ZEAL.  203 

gained  for  him  the  friendship  of  nearly  all  the  clergy- 
men for  whom  he  labored — pastors  and  curates  alike. 
It  was  at  the  mission  given  at  Saint  Malachy's,  be- 
ginning October  81,  1886,  that  a  close  friendship  arose 
between  him  and  the  present  archbishop  of  Philadel- 
phia, the  Most  Rev.  Edmond  F.  Prendergast,  pastor 
of  that  church  at  the  time.  It  was  a  friendship  that 
was  broken  only  by  the  death  of  the  great  missionary. 
The  success  of  the  mission  may  be  judged  by  the  fol- 
lowing account  given  of  it  in  the  diocesan  paper,  which 
we  reproduce  because  it  appears  to  be  from  the  pen 
of  Father  McKenna  himself. 

"  A  splendid  example  of  piety  and  devotion  was  shown  during 
the  last  week  by  the  people  of  this  parish  in  their  very  large 
attendance  at  the  exercises  of  the  Jubilee  Mission.  The  church 
was  every  evening  filled  to  crowding,  and  there  were  also  large 
congregations  at  all  the  Masses.  Nearly  all  the  people  of 
proper  age  must  have  approached  the  Sacraments.  The  Domin- 
ican Fathers  McKenna  and  O'Neil,  who  conducted  the  Retreat, 
will,  wherever  they  go  hereafter,  be  able  to  give  an  excellent 
account  of  the  piety  of  Philadelphia  Catholics  as  shown  by  those 
of  St.  Malachy's  parish."3 

Though  the  humble  friar  seldom  sent  an  account  of 
his  apostolic  labors  to  the  papers,  that  given  above 
would  seem  to  be  from  his  pen.  Its  style  resembles 
his,  while  it  was  quite  characteristic  of  his  humility  to 
attribute  all  the  credit  of  the  good  accomplished  by 
missions  to  the  people  and  to  claim  none  for  himself  or 
his  fellow- workers.  If  the  contribution  be  his,  it  was 
probably  inspired  by  his  love  for  the  pastor  of  Saint 
Malachy's.  But  what  a  striking  contrast  between  this 
entry  of  the  friar  into  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love  and 

»  The  Catholic  Standard,  November  13,  1886. 


204  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

his  arrival  there  as  a  penniless  immigrant  boy  in  the 
August  of  1851!  Now  he  had  seen  the  realization  of 
the  dreams  of  his  youth.  Dreams  they  were  that  had 
their  part  in  bringing  him  to  the  United  States,  but 
dreams  that  seemed  destined  never  to  be  fulfilled  when 
he  landed  on  American  soil  five  and  thirty  years  be- 
fore. 

Prior  to  this  mission  for  Father  Prendergast,  the 
Dominicans  had  often  performed  similar  labors  in 
various  parts  of  Pennsylvania,  particularly  in  the 
vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  but  that  at  Saint  Malachy's 
was  always  considered  by  Father  McKenna  as  prepar- 
ing the  way  for  their  phenomenal  success  in  the 
Quaker  city  at  a  later  date. 

The  mission  at  the  cathedral  of  Hartford  began  on 
February  28,  and  closed  on  March  14.  Father  Mc- 
Kenna, the  head  of  the  missionary  band,  had  labored 
for  Doctor  McMahon  in  the  same  capacity  when  the 
bishop  was  rector  of  a  church  in  New  Bedford,  Massa- 
chusetts. There  the  two  had  become  fast  friends. 
The  friar  had  also  formed  a  close  friendship,  and  under 
similar  circumstances,  with  Rev.  William  A.  Harty, 
who  had  lately  been  appointed  rector  of  the  cathedral. 
This  was  while  Father  Harty  was  pastor  of  the  Church 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  Waterbury,  Connecti- 
cut, where  sixteen  years  before  the  zealous  missioner 
had  begun  his  extraordinary  apostolate.  In  Hartford 
the  bonds  of  these  friendships  were  drawn  still  tighter, 
with  the  result  that  the  province  was  soon  offered  a 
place  in  the  diocese. 

Saint  Mary's  Church,  New  Haven,  which  had  been 
the  field  of  another  of  Father  McKenna's  earliest  suc- 
cesses, had  become  hopelessly  involved  in  debt.  The 


MAGNETIC  ZEAL.  205 

knowledge  of  the  hold  the  Friars  Preacher  had  gained 
on  the  people  there  during  missions  given  to  them, 
coupled  with  the  enthusiasm  caused  by  the  mission  at 
the  cathedral  of  Hartford,  suggested  to  Father  Harty 
that  these  men  would  not  only  be  acceptable  to  Saint 
Mary's  parish,  but  might  solve  the  problem  of  freeing 
it  from  debt.  Accordingly,  he  recommended  that  the 
church  be  given  to  the  Dominicans.  This  was  done, 
and  the  experiment  proved  not  only  successful  with 
regard  to  the  financial  situation,  but  eminently  satis- 
factory to  good  Bishop  McMahon. 

During  the  mission  at  Hartford  Father  McKenna 
made  another  intimate  and  lifelong  friend.  This  was 
the  Right  Rev.  Thomas  J.  Shahan,  the  present  learned 
rector  of  the  Catholic  University  of  America  and  titular 
bishop  of  Germanicopolis.  Father  Shahan  was  then 
a  young  priest  but  shortly  returned  from  the  College 
of  the  Propaganda,  where  he  had  won  distinguished 
academic  laurels.  As  he  was  chancellor  of  the  diocese 
and  secretary  to  Bishop  McMahon,  he  lived  at  the 
episcopal  residence  attached  to  the  cathedral.  Doctor 
Shahan,  whose  esteem  for  Father  McKenna  was  the 
highest,  thus  tells  us  how  he  first  met  and  learned  to 
admire  and  cherish  the  saintly  priest. 

"  It  was  early  in  1886  that  I  first  met  Father  McKenna.  It 
was  shortly  before  the  Dominicans  were  established  in  St.  Mary's 
Parish,  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  by  Bishop  McMahon,  at  the 
instance  and  recommendation  of  Father  William  Harty,  rector 
of  St.  Joseph's  Cathedral,  Hartford,  Connecticut.  Father 
Harty  invited  the  Dominicans  to  give  a  mission  at  the  cathedral, 
and  Father  McKenna  was  sent,  with  Fathers  De  Cantillon, 
Murphy  and  O'Neil.  The  enthusiasm  was  boundless,  particu- 
larly for  Father  McKenna  who  seemed  tireless  in  his  zeal,  espe- 


206  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

cially  in  the  pulpit  and  the  confessional.  In  both  places  he 
seemed  truly  a  man  of  God.  He  was  wont  to  hear  confessions 
in  the  open  sanctuary  of  the  basement,  for  the  cathedral  was  not 
yet  open  to  public  worship.  It  was  touching  to  see  him  seated 
at  a  prie-dieu,  while  beside  him  knelt  some  big  man  humbly  con- 
fessing his  sins,  the  Father's  arm  thrown  about  the  penitent's 
neck  who  meanwhile  shed  tears  of  repentance  and  joy.  His  fine 
voice  filled  easily  the  large  basement  of  the  cathedral,  and  he 
seemed  to  do  the  greater  part  of  the  preaching,  especially  the 
evening  sermons.  His  unction  and  his  eloquence  were  remark- 
able, and  I  think  I  never  heard  the  Word  of  God  preached  with 
more  power  and  effect. 

"His  influence  over  Catholic  laymen  was  most  noteworthy. 
I  have  known  several  to  whom  he  was  spiritual  guide  and  inti- 
mate friend,  and  who  eagerly  watched  his  coming  to  their  re- 
spective cities,  in  order  to  renew  their  religious  relations  with 
him.  This  was  notably  the  case  of  Mr.  William  U.  Downey,  of 
Washington,  D.  C.,  known  as  '  The  Prisoners'  Friend.'  Father 
McKenna  guided  this  good  man  along  the  way  of  Christian 
charity  for  the  welfare  of  the  prisoners  in  the  District  jail  and 
of  poor  tramps  and  unemployed  men  during  times  of  depression. 

"  In  Father  McKenna  I  ever  noticed  a  deep  humility,  mildness 
and  simplicity  of  manners,  an  affable  and  persuasive  exterior, 
and  a  very  tender  love  of  souls.  Like  many  others,  I  thought 
he  should  have  spared  himself  more,  but  he  could  never  take 
thought  of  self,  being  bent  on  the  service  of  God  and  his  neigh- 
bor. His  heart  went  out  in  sympathy  to  all  good  works,  and  he 
never  refused  assistance  or  advice  to  any  one  who  approached 
him  for  such  purposes.  In  a  word,  he  seemed  to  me,  in  the  thirty 
odd  years  I  knew  him,  to  be  a  model  priest  and  a  most  saintly 
religious,  an  exemplar  of  Christian  zeal  and  charity,  and  an 
ardent  apostle  of  the  honor  and  glory  of  his  Divine  Master."4 

It  was  on  May  16,  1886,  that  the  province  took 
charge  of  Saint  Mary's  Church,  New  Haven,  Early 

4  Letter  of  March  27,  1916. 


MAGNETIC  ZEAL.  207 

the  next  month  a  mission  was  given  there — largely  to 
win  the  good  graces  of  the  people  that  thus  they  might 
the  more  readily  co-operate  with  the  wishes  of  the 
bishop  of  the  diocese.  Father  McKenna  was  the 
leader.  It  was  a  happy  thought,  for  such  was  the  en- 
thusiasm aroused  that  the  great  debt  of  the  parish 
began  at  once  to  decrease.  It  was  then  decided  to 
station  the  head  of  the  missions  in  New  Haven;  this, 
however,  proved  impracticable  and  he  never  received 
his  papers  of  assignment.5 

But  another  mission  at  the  cathedral  of  Providence, 
immediately  preceding  that  in  New  Haven,  seemed  to 
threaten  for  a  time  to  put  an  end  to  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  missionary  labors.  It  had  been  frequently 
predicted  that  he  would  be  chosen  some  day  for  a 
bishopric.  Nothing  could  have  been  farther  from  his 
own  thoughts  or  more  against  his  wishes;  and  yet,  as 
he  fancied  that  such  rumors  were  but  idle  gossip,  he 
did  not  suffer  them  to  disturb  his  mind  or  to  prevent 
him  from  going  about  his  accustomed  work  for  souls. 
The  mission  in  the  Providence  cathedral  extended  from 
May  23  to  June  6,  1886.  Here  again  his  success  was 
unprecedented.  Five  days  later,  Bishop  Hendricken, 
one  of  his  earliest  and  most  intimate  clerical  friends, 
passed  away.  When,  therefore,  the  question  of  select- 
ing a  successor  to  Doctor  Hendricken  arose,  the  mem- 
ory of  the  missioner's  fruitful  labors  at  the  cathedral 
and  elsewhere  brought  his  name  into  prominence  in 
that  connection  and  he  learned  that  he  was  chosen  as 
one  of  the  candidates  for  the  bishopric  of  Providence. 

This  news  caused  the  humble  missionary  profound 

5  The  question  of  assigning  Father  McKenna  to  Saint  Mary's,  New 
Haven,  was  so  nearly  settled  that  we  find  him  for  a  time  directing  petitions 
for  missions  to  be  sent  to  that  convent. 


208  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

uneasiness,  since  he  had  firmly  resolved  to  live  and  to 
die  in  the  lowly  station  he  had  chosen  in  the  beginning. 
He  made  up  his  mind  that  nothing  short  of  positive 
obedience  would  ever  induce  him  to  exchange  the  life 
of  a  religious  for  the  more  exalted  position  of  a  bishop. 
He  felt,  too, — and  probably  with  good  reason — that 
he  was  not  endowed  with  those  peculiar  talents  re- 
quired for  the  efficient  government  of  a  diocese.  For 
these  reasons,  he  stormed  heaven  with  prayer  that  one 
of  the  other  candidates  (all  of  whom  were  his  friends) 
might  receive  the  appointment,  and  that  thus  he  might 
be  spared  the  refusal  upon  which  he  had  determined, 
in  case  of  his  own  nomination.  The  holy  man's  heart 
was  disconsolate  until,  in  the  spring  of  1887,  he  learned 
to  his  delight  of  the  appointment  of  the  present  in- 
cumbent, the  Right  Rev.  Matthew  Harkins,  as  the  new 
ordinary  of  Providence. 

In  addition  to  his  accustomed  apostolates,  Father 
McKenna  had  long  been  in  great  demand  as  a  conduc- 
tor of  retreats  for  sisters,  especially  for  those  of  his 
own  Order.  To  this  work  he  gave  much  of  his  time 
during  the  summer  months  when  free  from  the  mis- 
sions. Not  infrequently,  too,  he  found  time  during 
the  year  for  similar  religious  exercises  in  clerical  sem- 
inaries. But  it  was  not  until  this  year  (1886)  that 
we  have  found  any  mention  of  him  giving  a  retreat  to 
diocesan  clergy.  The  first  was  for  the  diocese  of  Hart- 
ford, and  was  given  at  the  request  of  his  friend,  Bishop 
McMahon.  From  this  time,  however,  his  services  were 
often  requested  for  this  labor,  and  everywhere  he  gave 
the  greatest  satisfaction.  In  his  character,  in  that  in- 
definable something  possessed  by  him  which  we  call 
personal  magnetism,  and  in  the  evident,  earnest  piety 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  ROME.  209 

that  sat  so  gracefully  upon  him,  there  was  a  force  that 
won  the  hearts  of  the  clergy.  To  this  day,  indeed,  it 
is  not  unusual  to  hear  priests  in  different  parts  of  the 
country  say  that  the  best  retreat  they  ever  made  was 
under  the  direction  of  "good  old  Father  McKenna." 

In  this  work,  as  in  all  that  he  did,  the  hand  of  God 
was  plainly  with  the  apostolic  religious,  giving  fruit 
to  his  earnest  efforts — broadening  and  strengthening 
his  influence  with  the  anointed  of  Christ  for  the  good 
of  the  Church  in  America. 

As  Bishop  Shahan  has  truly  said,  Father  McKenna 
could  never  be  induced  to  think  of  himself.  His  heart 
was  set  first  and  always  on  the  salvation  of  his  fellow- 
men — on  the  glory  of  God  and  His  Church.  With 
these  thoughts  uppermost  in  his  mind  he  continued  his 
labors  with  unabated  zeal,  even  when  it  was  clear  to 
all  that  he  needed  relaxation.  We  shall,  however, 
mention  but  three  of  the  missions  in  which  he  took  part 
from  September,  1886,  to  June,  1887.  Two  of  these 
were  given  early  in  the  latter  year  for  the  new  parishes 
of  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas,  Brooklyn,  and  Saint 
Raphael,  New  York.  Both  were  the  first  missions 
ever  given  in  these  churches.  At  both  Father  Mc- 
Kenna was  the  center  of  attraction.  The  third  was 
for  the  Church  of  Our  Mother  of  Sorrows,  Philadel- 
phia, where  he  found  another  treasured  and  helpful 
friend  in  the  pastor,  the  late  Right  Rev.  John  W. 
Shanahan,  bishop  of  Harrisburg. 

By  the  end  of  the  spring  of  1887  Father  McKenna's 
continual  labors  had  so  sapped  his  strength  as  to  make 
a  rest  imperative.  Accordingly,  acting  upon  the  ad- 
vice of  his  physicians  and  with  the  permission  of  his 
superiors,  he  determined  to  spend  the  summer  in 

15 


210  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Europe.  He  sailed  from  New  York  for  Liverpool, 
July  5,  taking  with  him  a  young  ecclesiastical  student 
— now  the  Rev.  E.  J.  Farmer,  O.P.  Out  of  love  for 
the  Blessed  Virgin  and  in  gratitude  for  the  extraordi- 
nary cure  he  felt  he  had  received  there  fourteen  years 
before  through  her  intercession,  the  pious  priest  lost  no 
time  in  visiting  Lourdes.  When  he  had  satisfied  his 
spirit  of  prayer  there,  he  journeyed  on  through  south- 
ern France  to  Prouille,  Toulouse,  Montreal,  Fanjeaux 
and  other  points  in  old  Languedoc  dear  to  the  heart  of 
every  true  Dominican  because  of  their  associations 
with  the  missionary  life  of  the  founder  of  the  order — 
Saint  Dominic.  It  is  easier  to  imagine  than  to  express 
what  must  have  been  the  feelings  of  the  humble  friar, 
staunch  Dominican  that  he  was,  when  he  saw  for  the 
first  time  those  spots  so  sacred  to  his  religious  insti- 
tute. At  Toulouse  he  was  permitted  to  see  the  relics 
of  Saint  Thomas  Aquinas  preserved  in  the  cathedral 
of  Saint  Sernin,  and  to  say  mass  at  his  altar. 

Filled  with  holy  reflections  aroused  by  the  places  he 
had  seen,  Father  McKenna  retraced  his  steps  through 
France,  Belgium  and  England  to  Ireland,  stopping  at 
points  of  interest  along  the  way  either  to  rest,  to  widen 
his  knowledge,  or  to  gratify  his  devotion.  On  his  ar- 
rival in  Ireland  he  hastened  to  visit  once  more  Falla- 
lea,  the  place  of  his  birth,  and  to  see  those  of  his  kin 
who  still  lived  there.  As  the  great  friar  was  not  only 
a  saintly  priest,  but  a  real  man  as  well,  his  love  for  his 
relatives  was  extraordinary.  While  no  one  could  more 
courageously  have  observed  the  command  of  Christ  to 
Jeave  all  things  for  His  sake  than  Father  McKenna, 
he  still  retained  a  warm  affection  for  those  connected 
with  him,  whether  by  bonds  of  blood  or  friendship. 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  ROME.  211 

In  Ireland,  wherever  he  went,  he  was  asked  to  preach; 
and  everywhere  he  electrified  the  people  with  his  elo- 
quence. 

When  Father  McKenna  left  New  York,  he  in- 
tended to  remain  abroad  only  two  months.  But  in  the 
meantime  circumstances  arose  that  considerably  pro- 
longed his  stay  in  Europe. 

A  few  years  before  the  time  of  which  we  now  write, 
the  Rev.  Patrick  V.  Flood  of  the  Irish  province  of 
Dominicans,  had  visited  the  United  States  to  raise 
funds  to  build  a  memorial  church  to  Father  Tom 
Burke  at  Tallaght,  Ireland.  As  Father  McKenna's 
deep  regard  for  the  celebrated  orator  enlisted  his  active 
interest  in  this  cause,  a  friendship  soon  arose  between 
him  and  Father  Flood.  When,  therefore,  the  latter 
was  appointed  coadjutor  bishop  of  Port  of  Spain, 
Trinidad,  July  7,  1887,  he  wrote  to  invite  his  American 
brother  to  his  episcopal  consecration  by  the  Most 
Rev.  William  J.  Walsh,  in  Dublin,  on  the  fourteenth 
of  the  following  month.  To  attend  the  interesting 
ceremony  was  an  easy  matter,  since  the  noted  mis- 
sioner  was  already  in  Europe.  But  the  new  bishop 
now  urged  Father  McKenna  to  accompany  him  to 
Rome.  Leave  for  this  additional  journey  was  granted 
readily,  both  because  it  was  felt  that  the  zealous  priest's 
labors  entitled  him  to  the  favor,  and  because  his  still 
weakened  state  of  health  made  it  unwise  for  him  to 
resume  his  missionary  duties  at  the  opening  of  the  fall 
season. 

The  permission  to  accompany  Doctor  Flood  to 
Rome  brought  great  joy  to  Father  McKenna's  heart. 
As  with  every  devout  Catholic,  there  was  no  place  he 
desired  more  to  visit  than  the  Capital  of  Christendom. 


212  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

His  delight  was  the  keener  because  the  opportunity 
had  come  unsought.  Through  reading  and  study  he 
knew  the  history  of  Rome,  its  churches,  its  spiritual 
treasures,  its  shrines,  its  traditions.  But  he  longed  to 
see  the  city,  its  objects  of  Catholic  and  historical  in- 
terest, to  receive  the  personal  blessing  of  the  Holy 
Father,  to  satisfy  his  devotion  in  prayer  at  its  sacred 
places — particularly  at  the  tombs  of  the  apostles. 

To  his  sorrow  Father  McKenna  was  detained  in 
Ireland,  owing  to  the  affairs  of  Bishop  Flood,  at  a 
time  when  every  moment  was  precious.  Because  of 
the  imperfect  condition  of  the  diary  of  his  pilgrimage 
it  is  not  possible  to  determine  the  exact  date  when  he 
began  his  journey  to  the  Eternal  City  or  to  learn  all 
the  places  he  visited  on  the  way.  It  would  seem,  how- 
ever, that  he  did  not  leave  Ireland  until  some  time  dur- 
ing the  month  of  September.  The  first  extant  note 
in  the  diary  speaks  of  the  quaint  old  city  of  Antwerp, 
with  whose  stately  Gothic  cathedral  (Saint  Mary's, 
dating  back  to  the  fourteenth  century)  and  its  master- 
pieces of  painting  and  sculpture  he  was  enraptured. 
The  fine  Dominican  church  and  convent  of  Saint  Paul 
in  the  same  place,  with  their  treasures  of  art  and  mag- 
nificent way  of  the  cross — all  sequestered  by  the 
French  revolutionists — filled  him  with  conflicting  sen- 
timents of  joy  and  sorrow. 

The  next  entry  of  the  diary  records  a  visit  to  Co- 
logne, whose  great  Gothic  cathedral  he  greatly  ad- 
mired. There  also  he  was  privileged  to  say  mass  in 
the  church  of  Saint  Andrew  over  the  body  of  Albert 
the  Great  who  shed  so  much  glory  on  the  Order  of 
Saint  Dominic  in  the  middle  ages.  From  Cologne  he 
journeyed  on  to  Strasburg,  Lucerne  and  into  northern 
Italy,  via  Chiasso  and  the  Saint  Gothard  Tunnel. 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  ROME.  213 

In  Italy  the  traveller's  first  point  of  stoppage  was 
Milan,  another  place  he  had  long  wished  to  see,  for 
there  Charles  Borromeo,  his  model  and  patron,  had 
lived,  labored  and  died.  There  reposed  the  saint's  re- 
mains in  the  Cathedral  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  which  has 
been  fittingly  described  as  a  beautiful  poem  in  stone 
and  glass.  On  the  following  morning  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  had  the  unspeakable  happiness  of  saying  mass 
on  the  altar  of  the  great  archbishop.  Doubtless  the 
holy  man  was  more  keenly  interested  in  his  devotions 
to  his  patron  saint  than  in  the  gorgeous  house  of 
prayer.  The  next  day  he  had  the  further  privilege  of 
offering  up  the  holy  sacrifice  in  the  church  of  San 
Eustorgio  at  the  altar  of  Saint  Peter  Martyr,  O.P., 
whose  staunch  virtues  and  heroic  defense  of  the  Catho- 
lic faith  appealed  strongly  to  the  missionary. 

But  the  traveller's  time  was  limited,  his  health  had 
greatly  improved,  and  the  call  of  the  missions  in  Amer- 
ica was  too  strong  to  resist.  Thus,  feeling  that  he 
ought  not  linger  longer,  after  two  days  spent  in  Milan 
he  went  on  to  Venice.  There  the  two  sacred  edifices 
that  specially  appealed  to  him  were  the  famous  cathe- 
dral of  Saint  Mark  and  the  great  Dominican  church 
and  convent  of  Saints  John  and  Paul.  His  heart  was 
rent  at  the  sight  of  the  sad  state  into  which  the  latter 
had  fallen  after  it  was  wrested  from  the  Order  during 
the  French  Revolution;  he  was  especially  touched  by 
the  ruined  condition  of  its  once  beautiful  Rosary 
Chapel,  supposed  to  have  been  caused  by  a  godless  mob. 

From  the  dream-city  by  the  Adriatic  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  made  his  way  to  Bologna,  where  also  he  was 
obliged  to  limit  his  stay  to  two  days.  He  had,  how- 
ever, the  unspeakable  happiness  of  celebrating  mass  at 


214  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

the  exquisite  tomb  of  Saint  Dominic  in  the  church  of 
the  same  name,  and  the  consolation  of  venerating  the 
relics  of  Saint  Catherine  of  Bologna  in  the  chapel  of 
the  Poor  Clares.  In  the  quaint  old  university  town 
he  would  fain  have  tarried  much  longer,  had  his  time 
permitted;  for  Bologna,  by  reason  of  its  associations 
with  Saint  Dominic  and  his  Order,  has  strong  claims 
on  the  affections  of  every  Friar  Preacher.  Here, 
again,  the  missionary's  joy  was  clouded  with  sadness. 
The  marks  of  the  French  Protectorate  were  still 
plainly  visible  on  Saint  Dominic's  Church  and  Con- 
vent. At  Loreto,  on  the  way  to  Rome,  he  could  stop 
only  long  enough  to  say  mass  in  the  holy  house  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin. 

Although  the  pious  pilgrim  was  keenly  interested  in 
all  points  with  important  historical  associations,  his 
deeply  religious  character  led  him  by  preference  to 
churches,  shrines  and  places  of  devotion.  The  magnifi- 
cent ruins  of  pagan  monuments  that  lay  along  his 
route  made  him  realize,  perhaps  as  he  had  never  real- 
ized before,  the  ephemeral  nature  of  all  things  of  the 
world,  and  caused  him  to  set  his  soul  more  than  ever 
on  those  of  heaven. 

It  was  on  the  evening  of  September  30,  1887,  that 
Father  McKenna  reached  the  Eternal  City.  Rome, 
more  than  any  other  city  in  the  world,  bears  witness 
both  to  the  past  splendors  of  paganism  and  to  the 
triumph  of  Christianity.  Her  position  in  Christen- 
dom is  unique.  In  her  monuments  the  history  of  the 
Church  can  be  traced  from  the  earliest  times — from 
the  humble  beginnings  in  the  catacombs  to  the  majes- 
tic glory  of  Saint  Peter's,  from  the  days  of  Cephas 
to  the  last  vicegerent  of  Christ  on  earth.  At  every 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  ROME.  215 

turn  one  comes  upon  places  hallowed  by  miracles,  the 
blood  of  martyrs,  the  lives  of  saints,  or  memories  of 
wise  and  holy  pontiffs.  Such  is  the  city  that  Father 
McKenna  had  long  desired  to  see.  Now,  at  last,  he 
was  there.  Though  it  was  a  subject  on  which  he  ever 
loved  to  converse,  like  every  pious  Catholic,  he  used 
to  say  that  he  could  not  express  his  feelings  when  he 
set  foot  on  such  consecrated  soil  for  the  first  time. 
The  problem  of  seeing  so  much  and  visiting  so  many 
places  dear  to  his  heart  in  the  brief  period  at  his  dis- 
posal perplexed  him.  Fortunately,  he  had  determined 
beforehand  what  he  specially  wished  to  see,  and  had 
the  good  Dominican  Fathers  of  San  Clemente  to  guide 
him  in  his  pilgrimages. 

The  pious  missioner  began  his  round  of  pilgrimages 
on  the  morning  of  October  1,  after  mass  in  the  basilica 
of  Saint  Clement  built  over  the  house  of  that  pontiff. 
But  to  follow  Father  McKenna  in  his  daily  rambles 
through  the  Eternal  City  and  its  environs  were  too 
tedious.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  notes  in  his  diary, 
brief  and  imperfect  as  they  are,  show  that  he  made 
the  best  use  of  the  nearly  three  weeks  he  spent  in 
Rome  on  this  first  visit,  and  reveal  the  religious  trend 
of  his  mind.  Few  were  the  places  of  devotion  omitted. 
With  these  visits,  however,  were  interspersed  others  to 
the  most  noted  of  the  pagan  monuments  belonging  to 
the  ancient  city.  The  great  basilicas,  the  oldest 
churches,  the  catacombs  and  points  more  intimately 
connected  with  his  own  Order  had  first  claim  on  his 
attention.  More  than  once  he  mentions  going  to  Saint 
Dominic's  two  homes  in  Rome — Saint  Sixtus  and 
Santa  Sabina — and  the  Minerva.  Yet  he  did  not  neg- 
lect the  places  associated  with  the  modern  saints  for 


216  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

whom  he  had  a  particular  predilection.  Among  the 
places  where  he  notes  having  said  mass,  are  Saint  Paul's 
Outside  the  Walls,  the  crypt  of  Saint  Peter's,  the 
Mamertine  Prison  where  the  prince  of  the  apostles  is 
said  to  have  been  imprisoned,  the  room  of  Saint  Pius 
V  at  Santa  Sabina's,  the  altar  of  Saint  Catherine  of 
Sienna  in  the  Minerva  and  that  of  Saint  Philip  Neri 
in  the  church  of  the  Oratorians.  Saint  Philip's 
humble  simplicity  always  appealed  to  the  American 
friar.  It  is  noteworthy,  indeed,  that  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  deepest  devotion  for  the  saints  was  shown 
to  those  whose  lives  were  marked  by  apostolic  zeal. 

The  holy  man's  heart  was  deeply  impressed  as  he 
wandered  through  the  dark  winding  passages  of  the 
catacombs,  which  in  the  early  days  were  at  once  the 
cemetery  for  the  martyrs  and  others  of  the  faith  and 
the  refuge  of  the  Christians  from  their  pagan  perse- 
cutors— a  veritable  subterranean  city  of  saints,  both 
dead  and  living.  There  his  attention  was  arrested  at 
every  step  by  some  object  that  aroused  his  devotion, 
or  showed  him  how  in  these  dim  underground  abodes 
were  formed  the  Christian  people  of  Rome  in  the  ages 
rich  above  all  others  in  virtue  and  good  works;  or  re- 
vealed to  him  the  heroic  lives,  the  sacrifices  and  the 
unparalleled  charity  of  the  first  generations  of  the 
faithful.  He  felt  that,  were  it  not  for  the  missions 
back  in  the  United  States,  like  Saint  Philip  Neri,  he 
would  fain  spend  years  in  the  study  and  contempla- 
tion of  the  catacombs  further  to  train  his  soul  in  the 
love  of  things  eternal. 

Father  McKenna's  reputation  as  a  saintly  religious, 
a  noted  orator  and  a  zealous  missionary  had  preceded 
him  to  Rome.  This,  together  with  his  striking  appear- 


FIRST  VISIT  TO  ROME.  217 

ance  and  priestly  deportment,  caused  him  to  be  re- 
ceived with  great  deference.  The  superiors  of  his 
Order  showed  him  every  kindness,  while  Leo  XIII 
was  so  impressed  with  him  that  he  granted  him  two 
private  audiences  and  sent  him  a  special  papal  bless- 
ing. Indeed,  so  it  is  said,  the  great  Pope  declared  his 
intention  of  making  him  a  bishop,  and  it  was  only 
through  the  humble  friar's  earnest  entreaties  that  he 
escaped  the  dreaded  dignity. 

When  the  time  for  Father's  departure  came,  feelings 
of  sorrow  and  gladness  struggled  for  the  mastery.  On 
the  one  hand,  he  had  to  leave  the  Capital  of  Christen- 
dom hallowed  by  many  memories;  on  the  other,  duty 
urged  him  to  the  work  of  God  in  the  New  World. 
He  rejoiced  that  he  had  been  given  the  privilege  of 
seeing  the  city's  great  cathedrals  and  churches  and 
many  monuments  of  the  ages  of  faith,  all  of  which 
made  him  proud  of  his  religion  and  whetted  his  thirst 
to  return  to  his  harvest  of  souls. 

It  was  on  October  19  that  Father  McKenna  began 
his  homeward  journey,  but  he  deflected  from  his  route 
to  make  short  pilgrimages  to  the  home  of  Saint  Cath- 
erine in  Sienna,  to  Florence,  and  to  Prato  to  see  the 
body  of  Saint  Catherine  of  Ricci.  Sailing  from  Liver- 
pool, October  27,  he  reached  New  York  on  the  morn- 
ing of  November  9,  after  an  unusually  stormy  voyage 
on  which  he  suffered  greatly.  Following  his  custom 
of  letting  no  day  pass  without  saying  mass,  Father  Mc- 
Kenna hastened  to  the  convent  of  the  Dominican 
Sisters,  East  Sixty-third  Street,  for  this  sacred  func- 
tion. The  good  sisters  and  the  orphans  under  their 
charge  sang  a  Te  Deum  in  thanksgiving  for  the  return 
of  their  friend.  But  theirs  were  not  the  only  hearts 
that  rejoiced  at  the  home-coming  of  the  holy  priest. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 
RETURNS  TO  THE  MISSIONS:  PRIOR  IN  OHIO. 

(1887-1891) 

THOUGH  easy  and  deliberate,  even  apparently  slow 
in  his  motions,  Father  McKenna  really  worked  with 
rapidity.  His  calm  exterior  and  dignified  manner 
served  as  a  cloak  to  the  intensely  active  spirit  that 
glowed  within.  Time  seemed  never  to  bear  heavily 
upon  his  shoulders,  except  during  tihe  rare  moments 
when  he  was  not  actually  engaged  either  in  helping 
souls  or  in  his  own  spiritual  or  intellectual  advance- 
ment. Like  Father  Mazzuchelli,  whom  he  had  learned 
to  love  and  to  admire  when  at  Sinsinawa,  he  could  not 
think  of  repose  while  there  was  good  to  be  accom- 
plished. He  would  probably  have  accused  himself  of 
delinquency  to  duty  for  the  four  months  spent  abroad, 
had  they  not  been  devoted  to  the  restoration  of  his 
health  and  to  satisfying  his  devotion. 

Thus  no  sooner  had  the  zealous  friar  returned  to 
America  than  we  find  him  proceeding  to  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  to  give  a  mission  in  Saint  Louis  Bertrand's 
Church.  From  there  he  went  to  give  an  eight  days' 
retreat  in  the  cathedral  of  Cincinnati.  Father  Mc- 
Kenna had  long  admired  Archbishop  Elder  of  that 
city,  but  this  was  his  first  opportunity  to  study  the 
saintly  prelate  at  close  range.  Of  a  kindred  spirit  the 
two  holy  men  parted  holding  each  other  in  affectionate 
esteem. 

These  two  were  the  beginning  of  a  long  series  of 

218 


RETURNS  TO  THE  MISSIONS.  219 

missions  lasting,  with  but  a  few  brief  periods  of  rest, 
for  more  than  a  year.  Wherever  the  man  of  God 
went,  his  zeal  and  piety  and  the  wonderful  effects  of 
his  preaching  were  recognized.  Often  his  coming  was 
heralded  in  terms  that  must  have  shocked  his  humil- 
ity. A  notable  instance  in  this  connection  was  the 
sermon  he  preached  at  the  cathedral  of  New  York, 
Christmas,  1887.  The  plan  of  this  sermon  as  outlined 
in  the  Freeman's  Journal,  December  31,  1887,  gives  a 
fair  idea  of  his  method.  First  there  was  the  prelude, 
in  which  the  speaker  sought  to  attract  the  attention 
and  to  win  the  good  will  of  his  audience.  This  was 
followed  by  the  dogmatic  portion  of  the  discourse;  for 
it  was  Father  McKenna's  aim,  first  of  all,  to  instruct 
the  people  in  the  teachings  of  the  Church  as  a  basis 
for  their  religious  belief  and  practice.  Keenly  realiz- 
ing that  without  dogma  morality  can  have  neither  life 
nor  a  secure  foundation,  he  endeavored  to  make  Catho- 
lic doctrine  clear  and  interesting  by  striking  illustra- 
tions, or  to  drive  it  home  by  strong,  direct  language. 
Then  came  the  moral  part  of  the  oration,  wherein  he 
used  all  his  extraordinary  powers  of  persuasion  to  in- 
duce his  hearers  to  lead  virtuous  lives.  Often  he 
ended  with  a  brilliant  peroration  that  left  a  lasting 
impression. 

We  will  not,  of  course,  attempt  to  enumerate  all  the 
missions  of  1888.  But  those  at  Our  Lady  of  the  Ros- 
ary, South  Boston;  Saint  James',  Salem;  Saint  Mary's, 
Troy,  and  Saint  Stephen's  and  Saint  Raphael's,  New 
York  City,  merit  mention  as  among  the  most  note- 
worthy in  point  of  numbers  and  enthusiasm  that  he 
conducted  in  the  first  half  of  the  year.  The  last  two 
deserve  a  special  word.  During  the  mission  at  Saint 


220  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Stephen's — given  for  men  only,  and  considered  one  of 
the  most  successful  in  the  history  of  the  parish — the 
Holy  Name  Society  was  established  with  a  large  char- 
ter membership.  It  was  at  this  time,  it  would  seem, 
that  an  intimate  friendship  arose  between  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  and  the  pastor,  Rev.  Charles  H.  Colton,  the 
late  bishop  of  Buffalo. 

Although  a  mission  had  been  given  there  the  pre- 
vious year,  that  conducted  by  Father  McKenna  at 
Saint  Raphael's,  April  1-29,  1888,  was  remarkably 
fruitful  in  its  results.  People  came  from  far  and  near 
in  such  numbers  as  to  tax  the  capacity  of  the  church. 
The  confessions  and  communions  ran  into  the  thou- 
sands. From  the  start  the  sermons  attracted  many 
non-Catholics,  nearly  a  hundred  of  whom  became  con- 
verts. Many  also  who  had  long  neglected  their  re- 
ligion, were  brought  back  to  the  practice  of  their  faith. 
For  want  of  time  on  the  part  of  the  missionaries,  the 
parochial  clergy  took  charge  of  the  large  class  of  those 
who  needed  instruction,  and  as  the  mission  continued 
for  four  weeks,  most  of  them  were  prepared  for  com- 
munion and  confirmation  before  its  close.  The  spirit- 
ual exercises  for  the  children  of  the  parish  were  en- 
trusted to  Father  McKenna,  and  as  his  heart  ever 
went  out  to  the  young  in  a  special  manner,  one  may 
imagine  how  he  strove  to  enkindle  the  divine  love  in 
their  tender  souls  during  the  time  allotted  them. 

In  the  May  of  the  same  year  (1888),  he  gave  a  re- 
treat at  the  provincial  seminary  of  Saint  Joseph's, 
Troy,  to  a  large  class  preparing  for  ordination — a  re- 
treat that  still  lives  in  the  memory  of  those  who  made 
it.  The  season  closed  with  a  number  of  small  mis- 
sions given,  at  the  request  of  Bishop  McMahon,  to 


RETURNS  TO  THE  MISSIONS.  221 

poor  country  parishes  of  Connecticut,  which  work  kept 
him  occupied  until  the  end  of  June. 

The  summer  months,  however,  brought  the  zealous 
missionary  little  rest.  Hardly,  indeed,  had  he  fin- 
ished his  work  in  Connecticut  when,  at  the  solicitation 
of  Bishops  Gallagher,  Machebeuf  and  Matz,  he  started 
for  the  south  and  west  to  conduct  a  series  of  clerical 
retreats.  The  first  of  these  were  given  in  Galveston, 
Texas,  for  the  priests  of  the  diocese.  From  Galves- 
ton he  journeyed  on  to  Denver.  Perhaps  Father 
McKenna  never  gave  greater  satisfaction  in  preaching 
to  those  of  his  own  calling  than  in  these  places.  These 
retreats  (there  were  four)  were  followed  in  quick  suc- 
cession by  others  given  to  different  sisterhoods  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  country,  keeping  him  almost  con- 
stantly occupied  until  the  return  of  the  missionary 
season  in  September. 

"A  good  beginning"  it  was  Father  McKenna's 
wont  to  say, "  is  half  the  victory,  and  the  end  crowns  the 
work."  Acting  on  this  principle,  he  attached  an  espe- 
cial importance  to  the  opening  and  closing  sermons  of 
a  mission.  The  aim  of  the  former  is  to  prepare  the 
people  for  the  spiritual  work  that  lies  before  them; 
that  of  the  latter  to  make  them  realize  the  necessity  of 
perseverance  in  the  path  of  rectitude.  It  was  Father 
McKenna's  custom,  as  long  as  he  remained  at  the  head 
of  the  missionary  band,  to  preach  at  least  one  of  these 
important  discourses  on  all  the  missions  in  which  he 
took  part.  And  it  was  seldom  that  his  reputation  did 
not  bring  such  throngs  to  the  opening  and  closing  exer- 
cises as  taxed  the  capacity  of  the  largest  churches.  Fre- 
quently, unless  another  place  or  time  could  be  ar- 
ranged for  the  overflow,  many  had  to  be  turned  away. 


222  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Such,  for  instance,  was  the  case  at  the  mission  in  the 
Church  of  the  Gate  of  Heaven,  South  Boston,  which 
was  one  of  his  first  in  the  fall  of  1888.  Immediately 
succeeding  this  came  the  mission  in  Saint  Mary's,  New- 
burg.  It  was  intended  to  last  only  one  week,  but 
proved  so  satisfactory  that  the  pastor  had  it  prolonged 
for  another  seven  days. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Father  McKenna's  great 
work  in  Philadelphia  began  in  earnest.  Commencing 
with  a  mission  for  Rev.  Daniel  A.  Brennan  at  the 
Church  of  the  Assumption  which  was  considered  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  ever  given  in  a  city  where  such 
religious  exercises  had  become  common,  Philadelphia 
begins  to  take  in  his  life  the  place  formerly  held  by 
Brooklyn.  For  nearly  twenty  years  the  zealous  friar 
had  given  missions  season  after  season  in  Brooklyn 
and  drawn  such  audiences  that  he  had  become  a  fa- 
miliar figure  to  a  large  part  of  the  city's  Catholic 
population.  As  he  still  remained  popular,  continuing 
to  preach  and  lecture  there  frequently,  it  would  seem 
that  the  change  was  largely  due  to  the  greater  earnest- 
ness with  which  the  clergy  of  Philadelphia  sought  his 
services.  Doubtless,  however,  the  law  of  change,  or 
the  desire  for  the  new  and  untried  that  is  so  strong  in 
us  all,  had  its  part  in  this  partial  transfer  of  the  noted 
missionary's  field  of  labor. 

Two  other  exceptional  missions  given  under  his  im- 
mediate direction  in  the  latter  half  of  1888  were  in 
the  Church  of  the  Assumption,  Brookline,  Massachu- 
setts, and  in  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's,  New  York. 
The  former  illustrates  how  Father  McKenna's  preach- 
ing not  only  reached,  but  carried  away,  people  of 
every  walk  of  life;  for  the  elite  of  the  fashionable 


PRIOR  IN  OHIO.  223 

suburb  of  Boston  were  brought  no  less  under  the  spell 
of  his  eloquence  than  the  laboring  classes  of  the  many 
cities  and  towns  visited  by  him.  With  the  parishion- 
ers of  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's  he  was  such  a  favorite 
that  they  always  turned  out  en  masse  to  hear  him,  and 
few  were  the  missions  given  there  during  the  many 
years  he  was  engaged  in  this  work  in  which  he  did  not 
take  a  prominent  part.  The  congregation  never  tired 
listening  to  him. 

Prior  to  the  close  of  1888,  Father  McKenna  had  en- 
gaged a  series  of  missions  for  his  zealous  band  of  co- 
laborers  lasting  until  the  end  of  June  in  the  following 
year,  and  extending  from  Boston  to  Chicago,  and  from 
Chicago  to  Memphis,  Tennessee.  But  he  himself  re- 
mained principally  in  the  east,  where  his  work  for  1889 
began  on  January  6  at  the  church  of  Saint  Benedict 
the  Moor  for  the  colored  Catholics  of  New  York,  in 
whom  he  had  taken  so  affectionate  an  interest  in  his 
early  priestly  life.  From  Saint  Benedict's  he  pro- 
ceeded to  the  Church  of  the  Assumption,  in  Philadel- 
phia. Of  his  labors  here  we  read: 

"  The  mission  was  a  great  success.  Thousands  approached 
the  sacraments,  some  of  whom  were  not  at  church  for  years. 
The  good  that  has  been  done  by  these  holy  missionaries  God 
alone  knows.  All  the  members  of  the  congregation  were  pleased 
and  edified  with  the  sermons  and  instructions  delivered  during 
the  Missions,  especially  those  delivered  by  the  great  orator, 
Father  McKenna."1 

Thus  the  apostle  of  piety  continued  almost  without 
respite  his  labors  for  souls  until  the  month  of  June. 
Other  parishes  in  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Hartford,  New 
Haven,  Brooklyn,  Troy  and  elsewhere  gave  him  hearty 

i  The  Catholic  Standard,  January  26,  1889. 


224  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

welcome.  Everywhere  the  people  came  from  far  and 
near  both  to  hear  the  words  of  salvation  as  they  fell 
from  his  eloquent  lips  and  to  profit  by  his  spiritual 
ministrations.  But  the  strain  had  begun  again  to  tell 
on  the  good  friar's  strength.  Largely  to  give  him  an 
opportunity  to  recover  his  impaired  health,  he  was 
placed  at  this  time  in  the  honorable  and  responsible, 
but  less  trying,  post  of  duty  of  which  we  have  now  to 
tell. 

Traditions,  concrete  living  ideals,  example — all  these 
are  of  prime  importance  for  the  higher  welfare  of  both 
Church  and  State.  In  a  religious  institute  they  are  an 
essential  principle  of  unity  and  strength,  adhesion  and 
vitality,  second  only  to  its  rules  and  constitutions. 
Without  their  energizing  influence  it  were  difficult,  if 
not  impossible,  for  an  order  long  to  retain  its  spirit 
or  even  to  continue  its  struggle  for  existence.  They 
are  as  spiritual  food  and  drink  to  the  young  in  train- 
ing for  the  vocation  and  labors  of  a  religious  order. 

These  truths  were  early  and  keenly  realized  by 
Father  McKenna.  A  true  Friar  Preacher  from  the 
day  he  received  the  habit  of  the  Order,  he  set  himself 
to  learn  its  traditions,  and  he  lived  up  to  them  through 
all  his  long  religious  life.  His  spirit  and  labors  were 
the  embodiment  of  the  ideals  of  Saint  Dominic,  the 
founder  of  his  institute;  his  life  was  the  expression  of 
one  of  his  Order's  prime  purposes  and  places  in  the 
Church — to  aid  and  subserve  the  hierarchy.  In  all 
things  the  zealous  friar  was  a  model  priest  and  re- 
ligious, thirsting  for  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salva- 
tion of  souls.  It  was,  therefore,  no  matter  for  surprise 
that,  when  the  place  of  superior  at  Saint  Joseph's 
Priory,  near  Somerset,  Ohio,  became  vacant  in  the 


PRIOR  IN  OHIO.  225 

spring  of  1889,  the  fathers  of  that  institution  unani- 
mously chose  the  saintly  man  for  their  spiritual  head. 
At  that  time  Saint  Joseph's  was  the  house  of  studies 
for  the  clerical  students,  and  was  accordingly  one  of 
the  largest  and  most  important  convents  in  the  prov- 
ince.2 It  was  felt  that  Father  McKenna's  high  stand- 
ing in  the  Church  of  America,  his  long  fruitful  labors, 
his  zeal,  his  example  and  his  counsel  would  not  only 
give  added  dignity  to  the  position  to  which  he  was 
chosen,  but  would  be  a  source  of  inspiration  to  the 
young  clerics  there  pursuing  their  philosophical  and 
theological  studies. 

Another  influence  that  had  its  part  in  the  choice  of 
Father  McKenna  for  this  responsible  post,  was  the 
desire  at  once  to  reward  his  merits  and  to  give  him  a 
well-earned  rest  from  his  arduous  apostolate  and  thus 
prolong  his  life  for  the  good  of  the  province.  He  was 
then  in  his  fifty-sixth  year,  but  his  labors  had  so  told 
upon  him  that,  although  still  quite  active,  he  appeared 
to  be  much  older. 

It  was  about  the  middle  of  May,  1889,  when  Father 
McKenna  was  elected  prior  for  the  second  time.  As 
in  the  first  instance,  he  was  busily  occupied  at  his  work 
of  saving  souls  in  Brooklyn  when  the  official  notifica- 
tion of  his  election  reached  him.  Again  his  first 
thought  was  how  to  avoid  the  dreaded  honor.  But  when 
he  read  the  provincial's  letter  commanding  his  ac- 
ceptance, the  spirit  of  obedience — not  less  strong  in 
him  than  that  of  humility — caused  him  once  more  to 
bow  to  the  voice  of  authority,  which  he  always  re- 
garded as  the  expression  of  the  divine  will. 

2  The  clerical  studies  were  transferred  to  the  Priory  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception,  Washington,  D.  C.,  in  August,   1905.    Since  that  date  Saint 
Joseph's  has  been  used  as  the  province's  simple  novitiate. 
16 


226  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

With  characteristic  promptness  the  new  prior  started 
for  the  west  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  mis- 
sion on  which  he  was  engaged.  The  impressive  event 
of  his  arrival  at  Saint  Joseph's  on  Thursday,  June  8, 
stands  out  prominently  in  the  writer's  memory.  A 
delegation,  composed  of  his  brethren  from  the  convent 
and  people  of  the  parish,  met  the  distinguished  clergy- 
man at  the  village  railway  station  and  escorted  him  to 
his  new  home  a  little  more  than  two  miles  away.  At 
the  priory  diligent  watch  was  kept  for  his  approach ; 
and  when  the  cortege  came  in  sight,  following  the  time- 
honored  custom  of  the  Order,  the  bells  of  the  church 
and  convent  were  rung,  while  the  community  gathered 
at  the  entrance  to  bid  their  new  superior  a  hearty  wel- 
come. We  can  never  forget  that  welcome.  It  was 
one  that  must  have  gladdened  Father  McKenna's  ten- 
der heart  and  soothed  the  sorrow  he  felt  at  leaving 
his  loved  work  in  the  east. 

Other  influences  that  helped  to  make  the  good  man 
resigned  to  this  change,  were  his  friendship  for  Bishop 
Watterson  and  his  intense  interest  in  the  young  men 
of  the  province  preparing  for  the  priesthood.  It  was 
at  Saint  Joseph's,  also,  that  he  had  seen  realized  his 
long  cherished  hope  of  becoming  a  Friar  Preacher. 
There  he  had  passed  his  year  of  probation,  had  made 
his  religious  profession,  had  gone  through  the  greater 
part  of  his  clerical  studies,  had  become  imbued  with 
the  spirit  of  the  apostolic  Fenwick.  For  these  reasons, 
perhaps  no  spot  on  earth  had  so  strong  a  claim  on  the 
friar's  affections  as  this  cradle  of  Catholicity  in  Ohio. 

Father  McKenna's  election  was  not  less  gratifying 
to  Bishop  Watterson  than  to  the  community  of  Saint 
Joseph's.  Indeed,  hardly  had  the  new  prior  arrived 


PRIOR  IN  OHIO.  227 

in  the  diocese  of  Columbus  when  that  dignified,  schol- 
arly prelate  appointed  him  one  of  the  diocesan  con- 
suitors.  The  good  bishop  appeared  to  think  that  the 
presence  of  so  holy  a  priest  must  call  down  blessings 
upon  the  diocese;  and  no  doubt  he  was  not  mistaken, 
for  God's  favors  are  bestowed  upon  those  who  serve 
Him  with  the  fidelity  that  characterized  the  friar's 
entire  life. 

In  the  life  of  every  great  and  good  man  there  is 
much  that  appeals  to  us  all,  but  in  that  of  this  humble 
Dominican  there  was  a  charm  which  appeared  to  be- 
long to  him  alone.  His  character  had  as  many  sides  as 
a  cut  diamond,  and  every  side  seemed  to  shine  with  its 
own  special  lustre.  While  we  had  often  seen  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  and  heard  him  preach  previous  to  the  time  he 
became  superior  at  Saint  Joseph's,  it  was  at  this  period 
that  the  writer's  acquaintance  with  him  became  inti- 
mate. It  was  then  that  we  had  our  first  opportunity 
to  study  him  leisurely  and  at  first-hand — an  occasion 
for  which  we  shall  ever  be  deeply  grateful. 

Although,  as  a  result  of  his  hard  labors,  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  health  was  much  impaired  at  the  commence- 
ment of  his  priorship,  he  never  suffered  this  to  prevent 
him  from  being  at  his  post  of  duty  or  taking  part  in 
the  community  exercises.  In  all  things  he  was  a  shin- 
ing model.  A  true  exemplar  of  the  priesthood  and  of 
the  religious  life,  he  led  the  way  for  the  others  to 
follow.  To  lead,  indeed,  was  his  ruling  principle;  for 
he  believed,  as  he  taught,  that  if  the  superior  sets  the 
example  the  subjects  will  not  be  slow  to  imitate.  An- 
other principle  that  he  both  strongly  inculcated  and 
faithfully  acted  upon,  was  that  the  wisest  rule  is  the 
kindliest  rule.  He  was  a  father  to  all,  and  all  revered 


228  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

him  as  a  father.  His  good  judgment,  supported  by 
his  experience  in  the  world  and  in  the  ministry,  told 
him  that  the  moderation  of  the  via  media  is  golden 
even  in  matters  spiritual.  This,  too,  was  an  axiom  he 
sought  to  impress  upon  the  minds  of  those  under  his 
charge.  Withal,  the  sight  of  the  saintly  superior  at 
his  prayers,  his  regularity  at  the  conventual  devotions 
and  exercises,  his  scrupulous  observance  of  the  Order's 
constitutions,  his  religious  demeanor,  his  piety  and  hu- 
mility, his  spirit  of  practical  asceticism,  were  an  in- 
spiration to  us  all. 

The  Order  of  Friars  Preacher  may  be  said  to  mark 
the  period  of  breaking  away  from  the  old  traditions 
that  bound  religious  bodies  so  strictly  to  their  conven- 
tual precincts.  Saint  Dominic,  as  has  been  seen,  had 
learned  from  personal  experience  with  the  world  of 
sin  the  need  of  trained  warriors  who  should  be  not  only 
free,  but  bound  by  their  vocation,  to  go  forth  to  combat 
error  and  to  aid  bishops  in  the  spread  of  light  and  in 
the  defense  of  the  Church.  This  was  the  novel  idea, 
the  prime  purpose,  of  the  institute  he  brought  into 
existence.  He  retained,  it  is  true,  much  of  the  legis- 
lation and  many  of  the  practices  that  prevailed  in  the 
orders  prior  to  his  day;  but  these  were  not  to  be  im- 
pediments to  the  new,  the  active  and  the  energetic  ele- 
ments that  stand  out  so  prominently  in  the  laws  by 
which  his  brethren  were  to  be  governed.  In  this,  in- 
deed, we  find  the  explanation  of  the  broad,  flexible 
character  of  the  Dominican  constitutions  and  the  wide, 
discretionary  powers  invested  in  the  superiors  spoken 
of  in  the  course  of  these  pages.  Father  McKenna 
thoroughly  understood  this.  Thus,  while  he  was  un- 
bending with  regard  to  all  fundamentals  and  the  spirit 


PRIOR  IN  OHIO.  229 

of  the  rule,  he  was  notably  large  in  his  interpretation  of 
the  letter  of  the  law  and  in  the  exercise  of  his  author- 
ity where  the  good  of  souls  was  even  remotely  con- 
cerned. 

As  might  be  expected  of  a  man  of  Father  McKenna's 
zealous  character,  one  of  his  principal  aims  during  his 
term  of  office  was  to  have  the  young  men  under  his 
charge  trained  to  be  not  merely  good  religious  and 
model  priests,  but  efficient  missionaries  and  harvesters 
of  souls  like  himself.  To  this  end  he  frequently  gave 
the  community  pious  instructions  or  eloquent  dis- 
courses on  the  sacredness  of  their  calling,  the  lives  they 
should  lead,  the  high  ideals  they  should  hold  up  for 
themselves,  the  charity  that  should  fill  their  hearts,  the 
ardent  desire  they  should  foster  for  the  salvation  of 
their  fellow-men.  On  these  occasions  his  little  clerical 
audience  hung  in  breathless  silence  on  his  burning 
words.  His  message  was  always  of  the  highest  and 
noblest;  the  way  in  which  he  presented  it  never  failed 
to  command  the  strictest  attention.  Often,  indeed,  one 
might  have  been  tempted  to  fancy  that  so  must  have 
spoken  the  prophets  of  old  when  God  sent  them  to 
guide  His  chosen  people. 

It  was  also  Father  McKenna's  custom  at  this  time 
frequently  to  preach  in  the  little  country  church  at- 
tached to  Saint  Joseph's.  People  flocked  from  every 
direction  to  hear  his  inspiring  sermons  which  were  no 
less  a  source  of  spiritual  joy  and  intellectual  delight 
for  the  members  of  the  community.  Days  were  these 
of  golden  opportunity  for  the  students  of  the  prov- 
ince to  enjoy  and  to  study  the  art  that  has  swayed 
men's  souls  from  the  beginning  of  the  world. 

Father  McKenna  loved  nature  and  was  fond  of  the 


230  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

open  air.  Always  keenly  interested  in  vocations  to 
the  priesthood,  he  showed  the  most  fatherly  concern 
for  those  under  his  spiritual  care  at  Saint  Joseph's. 
On  days  of  recreation  it  was  his  delight  to  go  with 
them  on  their  walks  through  the  surrounding  country, 
every  spot  of  which  he  knew  well  from  his  own  stu- 
dent days.  It  was  on  these  strolls  that  the  writer 
learned  from  the  venerable  missionary  much  of  his  own 
life,  as  well  as  much  of  the  history  of  the  province, 
its  traditions,  its  trials  in  bygone  times,  its  early 
fathers. 

During  the  two  summer  vacations  he  spent  .at  the 
province's  quondam  house  of  studies,  the  great  preacher 
took  the  novices  almost  daily  to  a  grove  that  stood  on 
the  sloping  hill  in  the  sheep  fold,  about  half  a  mile 
from  the  monastery.  There,  under  the  generous  shade 
of  spreading  maples,  he  would  declaim  for  them,  and 
have  them  recite  in  turn  extracts  from  productions  of 
noted  orators.  Nothing  was  left  undone  to  improve 
them  in  an  art  that  belongs  in  an  especial  manner 
to  the  vocation  of  a  Friar  Preacher.  Through  these 
lessons  in  the  open  air,  coupled  with  others  in  the  con- 
vent, the  holy  man  laid  or  advanced  the  foundations 
of  a  sacred  oratory  that  has  been  the  means  of  accom- 
plishing untold  good  on  our  Catholic  parochial  mis- 
sions. 

During  these  strolls  through  the  country  and  at 
these  outdoor  lessons  in  oratory,  the  writer  learned  also 
to  admire  Father  McKenna's  wide  reading  and  his 
mastery  of  the  Latin  tongue.  We  marvelled  how  one 
who  had  led  so  busy  and  active  a  life  could  have  found 
time  to  read  so  much  or  could  have  retained  so  perfect 
a  knowledge  of  classical  literature.  While  because  of 


PRIOR  IN  OHIO.  231 

the  lack  of  practice  he  did  not  speak  Latin  readily,  he 
read  it  with  the  greatest  ease — could  quote  the  Scrip- 
tures or  the  classics  with  astonishing  fluency.  On 
these  occasions,  too,  he  showed  his  wide  acquaintance 
with  history  (particularly  that  of  the  Church)  and 
hagiography.  In  the  latter  science  he  was  an  author- 
ity, and  it  was  a  treat  to  hear  him  converse  on  the 
subject.  He  was  also  well  versed  in  theology  and 
was  one  of  the  most  practical  moral  theologians  the 
writer  has  known.  As  the  good  friar  was  seldom  seen 
without  a  book  in  his  hand,  one  may  believe  that  these 
accomplishments  were  largely  the  result  of  his  tireless 
industry.  In  fact,  industry,  piety  and  zeal  were  the 
things  he  most  strongly  urged  upon  aspirants  to  the 
priesthood. 

As  has  been  said,  there  was  nothing  morose,  cold  or 
repellant  in  Father  McKenna's  piety.  He  was  deeply 
pious,  but  he  was  also  sociable,  genial,  jovial.  In  his 
recreation  with  the  novices  he  was  as  merry  as  they; 
he  talked  and  joked  as  though  he  were  one  of  them — 
always,  however,  with  becoming  decorum.  Even  in 
his  most  serious  sermons  he  often  enlivened  his  point 
with  an  apt  story  that  served  not  merely  to  prevent 
tedium,  but  to  give  life  and  color  to  his  discourse,  to 
illustrate  his  meaning,  or  to  strike  the  imagination. 
In  this,  indeed,  he  excelled. 

The  holy  friar  believed  that  "cleanliness  is  next  to 
godliness."  Slovenliness  he  could  not  tolerate.  He 
could  see  no  connection  between  sanctity  and  dirt. 
While  his  heart  went  out  to  poverty,  it  shrank  from  the 
filthiness  with  which  it  is  frequently  associated.  That 
one  should  keep  the  body,  which  is  the  house  of  'the 
soul  and  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  almost  as  clean 


232  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

as  the  soul  itself  was  a  principle  that  he  not  only  care- 
fully practiced  but  consistently  urged  upon  others. 
From  a  merely  human  point  of  view,  one  of  the  most 
attractive  things  about  Father  McKenna  was  his  im- 
maculate neatness,  a  trait  that  characterized  him  to  a 
marked  degree  even  in  the  helplessness  of  his  old  age. 

It  was  this  love  of  neatness,  together  with  zeal  for 
the  house  of  God,  that  led  him  to  do  so  much  for  the 
church  and  convent  in  Louisville  during  his  term  as 
superior  there.  Prompted  by  the  same  spirit  he  now 
performed  the  same  good  offices,  in  so  far  as  the  slen- 
der means  at  his  disposal  permitted,  for  Saint  Joseph's. 
One  of  the  first  things  to  claim  his  attention  when  he 
arrived  in  Ohio  was  the  need  of  more  suitable  side 
altars  for  the  church.  When,  therefore,  he  learned 
that  the  two  wooden  Gothic  altars  that  he  had  placed 
in  Saint  Louis  Bertrand's,  Louisville,  were  to  be  re- 
placed by  others  of  marble,  he  asked  that  they  be  sent 
to  him,  promising  to  give  a  mission  as  compensation. 
The  writer  remembers  well  the  joy  shown  by  the  good 
prior  when  these  two  graceful  altars  were  set  in  posi- 
tion in  the  little  house  of  prayer,  where  they  still  re- 
main and  are  spoken  of  as  "  Father  McKenna's  altars." 

But  as  at  Saint  Louis  Bertrand's,  so  at  Saint 
Joseph's  Father  McKenna's  cares  were  not  confined  to 
his  community.  He  still  retained  the  position  of  head 
of  the  eastern  band  of  missionaries,  and  from  Ohio  di- 
rected their  labors.  In  addition  to  this,  although  he 
had  intended  to  do  but  little  of  this  kind  of  work  dur- 
ing his  priorship  at  the  house  of  studies,  the  pastors  of 
some  of  the  churches  of  the  Columbus  diocese  that  had 
not  been  blessed  with  a  mission  in  years,  importuned 
the  good  man  until  he  consented  to  give  their  flocks 
the  spiritual  exercises  for  which  they  were  hungering. 


PRIOR  IN  OHIO.  233 

Occasionally,  too,  during  the  first  year  of  this  so- 
journ in  Ohio  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  journey  back 
to  Philadelphia,  where  his  services  were  much  sought. 
He  also  went  to  Troy,  New  York,  and  once  to  New 
Haven,  Connecticut.  In  the  same  period  he  gave  a 
mission  in  Louisville,  one  in  the  cathedral  of  Denver 
and  another  in  the  Dominican  church  of  the  Holy  Ros- 
ary, Minneapolis.  Urgent  reasons  for  undertaking 
these  distant  labors  were  the  heavy  debt  of  the  convent 
and  the  need  of  repairs.  In  spite  of  these  varied  duties, 
not  since  his  first  entry  on  the  missions,  three  years 
after  his  ordination,  had  Father  McKenna  enjoyed  so 
much  freedom  and  quiet  repose  as  from  June,  1889, 
to  the  fall  of  1890.  This  was  what  he  most  needed, 
and  the  country  air,  together  with  relaxation  from  the 
strain  of  anxiety,  soon  restored  his  health.  As  soon  as 
this  became  known,  appeals  for  his  personal  aid  on  the 
missions  began  to  pour  in  upon  him  not  only  from 
his  brethren  engaged  in  that  work,  but  from  pastors 
seeking  the  services  of  the  fathers.  The  pressure  of 
these  solicitations  and  his  own  burning  zeal  for  souls 
became  irresistible,  and  from  the  fall  of  1890  until 
the  resignation  of  his  office  in  the  June  of  the  follow- 
ing year  the  zealous  friar  was  often  away  from  his  con- 
vent. It  was  because  of  the  impossibility  of  satisfac- 
torily combining  the  life  of  an  active  missionary  with 
the  priorship  at  the  house  of  studies  that  he  again 
asked  to  be  permitted  to  lay  down  the  reins  of  author- 
ity. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  his  frequent  absences,  Father 
McKenna's  term  of  office  at  Saint  Joseph's  was  a 
notable  success.  Its  influence  continues  to  be  felt  at 
that  venerable  institution  after  a  lapse  of  more  than  a 
quarter  of  a  century. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

DEVOTION  TO  HIS  PATRON  SAINTS. 

IT  is  now  fitting  that  we  should  speak  of  an  influence 
that  did  much  to  shape  the  course  and  to  form  the 
character  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  It  was  an  in- 
fluence which  plays  only  too  little  part  in  the  lives  of 
Catholics.  In  the  life  of  Father  McKenna,  however, 
it  was  not  merely  of  such  importance  as  to  merit  men- 
tion; nay,  a  biography  of  the  distinguished  Friar 
Preacher  that  did  not  make  this  characteristic  clearly 
known  to  the  reader  would  necessarily  be  incomplete. 

He  was  named  after  two  illustrious  saints  of  the 
Church — Charles  Borromeo  and  Hyacinth  Odrowacz. 
Both  were  of  noble  lineage,  but  they  became  still  more 
distinguished  through  their  learning,  their  sanctity  and 
their  great  labors  in  the  cause  of  souls  and  religion. 

Charles  Borromeo  was  born,  October  2,  1538,  in  the 
Castle  of  Arona,  a  town  on  the  southern  shore  of  Lago 
Maggiore  in  northern  Italy.  Through  both  his  par- 
ents, Count  Gioberto  Borromeo  and  Margherita  de 
Medici,  he  was  of  the  best  Italian  blood.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Arona,  Milan,  and  at  the  University  of  Pavia. 
At  the  early  age  of  twenty-one  years  he  was  created  car- 
dinal and  made  papal  secretary  of  state  by  his  uncle, 
Pius  IV.  But  in  spite  of  his  youth,  the  future  saint 
did  not  suffer  these  proud  distinctions  to  rob  him  of 
his  deep  humility  or  to  cause  him  to  relax  his  spirit 
of  prayer  and  mortification.  In  1563  he  was  conse- 
crated bishop,  and  in  the  following  year  was  appointed 

234 


DEVOTION  TO  HIS  PATRON  SAINTS.  235 

metropolitan  of  Milan.  In  all  these  responsible  posi- 
tions he  showed  extraordinary  executive  ability.  His 
success  in  temporal  affairs,  however,  was  outshone  by 
his  striking  virtues  and  heroic  charity.  Through  his 
zeal,  guided  by  a  wonderful  tact  and  patience,  Saint 
Charles  Borromeo  was  enabled  to  accomplish  much 
both  for  the  Council  of  Trent  (in  its  closing  sessions) 
and  towards  the  promulgation  of  its  decrees. 

As  Milan  had  been  without  a  resident  archbishop  for 
eighty  years,  Charles  sought  permission  to  live  in  his 
episcopal  city  that  he  might  more  easily  correct  the 
abuses  that  had  crept  in  during  this  period  and  super- 
intend the  introduction  of  the  decrees  of  the  Council 
of  Trent  into  his  diocese.  But  Pius  IV  would  not 
permit  him  to  leave  Rome.  Under  this  pontiff's  suc- 
cessor, however,  the  pious  prelate's  wish  was  granted, 
and  he  proceeded  to  set  right  matters  that  had  gone 
wrong,  as  well  as  to  put  into  execution  the  disciplinary 
measures  enacted  at  Trent.  Under  his  wise  guidance, 
the  inspiration  of  his  zeal  and  his  example — for  in 
all  things  he  led  the  way  he  asked  others  to  follow— 
the  work  of  reformation  proceeded  apace.  In  a  sur- 
prisingly short  time  Milan  had  become  a  model  diocese. 
Notwithstanding  his  busy  life,  Charles  found  time  to 
write  many  pastoral  letters,  pious  instructions  and 
other  works,  all  of  which  are  still  considered  classic  in 
their  order.  The  great  archbishop — an  ideal  pastor- 
died,  November  3,  1584.  From  the  time  of  his  death 
he  was  honored  as  a  saint  in  his  metropolitan  city. 
The  devotion  paid  him  there  rapidly  became  universal, 
leading  to  his  canonization  in  November,  1610.  Such, 
in  briefest  outline,  was  the  life  of  the  saint  after  whom 
Father  McKenna  received  the  name  of  Charles  in 
baptism. 


236  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Hyacinth  belonged  to  an  earlier  age.  Born,  A.D., 
1185,  he  died  at  Cracow,  August  15,  1257.  His  birth- 
place was  the  Castle  of  Lanka,  at  Kamin,  in  Silesia,  Po- 
land— now  Prussia.  Like  Charles  Borromeo,  he  was  of 
noble  lineage;  for  his  father  Eustachius  Odrowacz, 
Count  of  Konski,  belonged  to  one  of  the  oldest  and 
most  illustrious  families  of  Silesia.  Hyacinth  and  his 
younger  brother,  Blessed  Ceslas,  received  their  early 
education  from  their  uncle,  Rev.  Ivo  Odrowacz,  of  the 
house  of  Konski  and  chancellor  of  Poland. 

Resolving  later  to  embrace  the  ecclesiastical  state, 
the  two  young  men  were  sent  to  study  successively  at 
the  universities  of  Cracow,  Prague  and  Bologna.  At 
the  latter  place  they  received  the  degrees  of  doctor  of 
law  and  divinity.  From  Bologna  they  returned  to 
their  native  country,  where  they  were  accorded  preb- 
ends and  became  members  of  the  episcopal  council. 
In  addition  to  this,  Hyacinth  was  appointed  a  canon 
in  the  cathedral  of  Cracow,  while  Ceslas  was  made 
provost  of  the  church  of  Sandomir. 

The  mantle  of  sainthood  appears  to  have  fallen  upon 
both  at  an  early  age.  Thus,  like  Charles  Borromeo, 
Hyacinth  and  Ceslas  did  not  suffer  birth,  honors  or 
education  to  stand  in  the  way  of  a  holy  life;  for  in 
those  good  old  Catholic  days  the  highest  learning  and 
station  went  hand  in  hand  with  religion. 

In  1218  or  1219  the  two  young  ecclesiastics  accom- 
panied their  pious  uncle,  Ivo  Odrowacz,  who  in  the 
meantime  had  become  bishop  of  Cracow,  to  the  Eternal 
City.  At  that  period  all  Rome  was  aglow  over  the 
preaching,  the  zeal,  the  life  and  the  miracles  of  Saint 
Dominic,  the  founder  of  the  new  Order  that  was  to 
bear  his  name.  There  the  visitors  saw  the  saint  raise 


DEVOTION  TO  HIS  PATRON  SAINTS.  237 

the  youthful  Napoleon  Orsini  to  life.  The  bishop  and 
his  retinue  soon  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  chival- 
rous thaumaturge  of  Caleruega,  with  the  result  that 
both  the  nephews  were  so  irresistibly  drawn  to  him  that 
they  begged  to  be  admitted  into  his  Order.  Later,  in 
1220,  they  received  the  habit  of  the  Friar  Preacher 
from  the  hands  of  Saint  Dominic  himself  in  the  his- 
toric old  Dominican  convent  of  Santa  Sabina.  Their 
time  of  probation  over,  they  took  their  religious  vows 
and  were  sent  back  to  their  native  country  to  spread 
the  Order  in  the  north. 

It  was  then  that  Hyacinth  entered  upon  a  glorious 
apostolate  that  continued  until  his  death.  His  labors 
extended  through  his  native  Poland,  Russia,  Denmark, 
Norway,  Sweden,  the  northern  countries  of  Asia — 
perhaps  as  far  as  the  Great  Wall  of  China.  In  him, 
indeed,  was  realized  Saint  Dominic's  dream  of  a  mis- 
sion to  the  Cumans — a  name  which  seems  to  have 
been  used  at  that  period  to  designate  the  unsettled, 
roving  Tartar  hordes  that  inhabited  the  present  eastern 
Hungary,  Bulgaria,  Roumania  and  southern  Russia 
nearer  the  Black  Sea.  Through  Hyacinth  and  the 
disciples  he  gathered  about  him,  the  labors  of  the  Order 
of  Preachers  were  carried  into  more  than  half  of  the 
then  known  world.  Everywhere  he  preached,  spread 
the  faith,  founded  churches  and  convents,  converted 
heathens  and  sinners,  worked  miracles,  thus  winning 
for  himself  the  titles  of  "Apostle  of  the  North"  and 
the  "wonder-worker"  of  his  age.  Hyacinth's  labors 
have  few  parallels  in  ecclesiastical  history.  He  was 
raised  to  the  honor  of  the  altar  by  Clement  VIII  in 
1594.  Such,  also  in  brief  outline,  was  the  man  whom 
Father  McKenna  chose  as  his  patron  when  he  received 
the  Dominican  habit. 


238  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

The  purpose  of  the  Church  in  giving  the  names  of 
saints  to  her  members  in  baptism  is  that  they  may  have 
a  model  after  which  to  pattern  and  fashion  their  Chris- 
tian lives  and  a  patron  to  intercede  for  them  in  heaven. 
The  same  idea  underlies  the  custom  which  obtains  in 
most  religious  institutes  of  giving  their  subjects,  when 
they  are  invested  with  the  order's  habit,  a  name  differ- 
ent from  that  borne  by  them  in  the  world.  This 
second  saint  is  to  be  their  supernal  benefactor  and  the 
pattern  whose  example  they  are  to  emulate  in  striving 
for  perfection. 

Father  McKenna  keenly  appreciated  this  idea  of 
the  Church  and  his  Order.  To  put  it  into  execution 
in  his  own  life  he  regarded  as  a  sacred  duty.  Those 
who  knew  him  intimately  will  bear  us  out  in  the  state- 
ment that  he  ever  sought  to  fulfill  this  holy  obligation. 
As  a  boy  in  Ireland,  under  the  solicitous  care  of  his 
Christian  mother,  he  learned  the  life  of  Charles  Bor- 
romeo.  His  choice  of  Saint  Hyacinth  as  his  exemplar 
in  religion  was  not  haphazard,  for  he  knew  well  the 
fruitful  missionary  labors  of  the  Apostle  of  the  North 
and  felt  strongly  impelled  to  such  a  life  himself.  And 
having  chosen  the  name  of  Hyacinth,  he  set  to  work 
to  learn  more  of  the  man  who  many  centuries  before 
had  made  it  synonymous  with  sanctity.  Through  all  his 
long  priestly  career  the  missioner  never  tired  of  study- 
ing the  lives  and  the  virtues  of  the  great  archbishop  of 
Milan  and  the  wonder-worker  of  his  Order,  or  of  try- 
ing to  reproduce  them  in  himself.  If,  as  we  are  told, 
the  blessed  in  heaven  are  pleased  with  the  holy  lives  of 
their  namesakes  on  earth,  then  Saint  Charles  Borromeo 
and  Saint  Hyacinth  must  have  found  much  joy  in 
that  of  the  Rev.  Charles  Hyacinth  McKenna. 


DEVOTION  TO  HIS  PATRON  SAINTS.          239 

Although  the  zealous  priest  sedulously  cultivated 
the  habit  of  reading  the  lives  of  the  servants  of  God 
in  general,  there  were  two  others,  besides  those  men- 
tioned above,  towards  whom  he  was  drawn  by  a  par- 
ticular devotion.  These  were  Saint  Dominic  Guzman 
and  Saint  Catherine  of  Sienna — the  one  the  founder 
of  his  Order,  the  other  one  of  its  fairest  flowers.  -  Like 
Charles  Borromeo  and  Hyacinth  Odrowacz,  Dominic 
and  Catherine,  in  addition  to  cultivating  the  habit  of 
intense  meditation  and  giving  much  care  to  their  own 
personal  sanctification,  were  most  zealous  and  active 
in  the  cause  of  souls.  These  four  were  the  good  Friar 
Preacher's  models  in  a  special  sense.  His  spirit  was 
closely  akin  to  theirs. 

The  efforts  put  forth  by  these  servants  of  God  for 
the  salvation  of  souls  were  a  source  of  constant  in- 
spiration to  Father  McKenna  in  his  labors  for  the 
same  blessed  cause.  The  thought  of  them  sustained 
and  encouraged  him  in  more  than  one  trying  experi- 
ence, when  his  work  appeared  to  bear  little  fruit,  when 
his  spirits  ran  low,  or  when  he  suffered  from  ill  health. 
This  was  particularly  the  case  during  the  last  decade 
of  his  life  when,  in  spite  of  his  age,  he  traversed  the 
country  in  every  direction  to  further  the  apostolates  of 
the  Rosary  and  Holy  Name  societies. 

It  was  largely  Father  McKenna's  efforts  to  mould 
and  shape  his  life  after  these  patterns  of  holiness  that 
made  him  the  man  of  God  so  fittingly  portrayed  in 
the  following  letter  of  Cardinal  Farley: 

"NEW  YORK, 
"  June  81,  1916. 
"  Rev.  and  dear  Father: 

"  It  affords  me  great  pleasure  to  give  you  an  appreciation  of 


240  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Father  McKenna,  one  of  the  most  apostolic  men  with  whom  I 
have  been  privileged  to  come  into  close  contact.  I  had  the  hap- 
piness of  meeting  Father  McKenna  in  the  first  year  of  my  priest- 
hood, when  he  came  with  other  Dominican  Fathers  to  give  a  mis- 
sion in  St.  Peter's  Church,  New  Brighton,  Staten  Island,  where 
I  was  an  assistant.  His  stay  at  the  rectory  gave  me  ample 
opportunity  of  knowing  his  beautiful  character.  Christian 
simplicity  and  sweetness  seemed  to  me  to  be  his  dominant  traits, 
and  this  first  impression  has  survived  and  been  confirmed  by  our 
relations  during  the  intervening  years.  Our  first  acquaintance 
ripened  into  a  sacred  friendship.  I  can  still  recall  what  a  fa- 
vorite he  was  with  the  people  of  St.  Peter's  during  the  mission, 
and  my  official  position  during  the  years  he  was  attached  to  St. 
Vincent  Ferrer's  made  it  possible  for  me  to  observe  how  he  was 
loved  by  that  large  congregation  for  his  zeal  and  unselfish  devo- 
tion to  his  priestly  duties. 

"  But  the  great  object  of  his  life  was  to  spread  devotion  to  the 
Holy  Name  of  Jesus.  When  he  had  exhausted  his  physical 
powers,  and  had  no  longer  the  strength  to  attend  to  his  regular 
missionary  labors,  this  apostolate  of  increasing  veneration  for 
the  Holy  Name  filled  in  his  life  most  fruitfully,  and  I  cannot 
withold  the  expression  of  my  conviction  that  the  results  of  his 
work  in  this  field  will  form  his  crown  of  great  glory,  when  it 
shall  please  the  'Divine  Master' — as  he  was  wont  to  call  our 
Blessed  Lord — to  say  *  Friend,  come  up  higher,'  a  day  which,  I 
trust,  may  be  still  far  distant. 

"  I  always  think  of  Father  McKenna  as  bearing  a  strong  re- 
semblance to  St.  Philip  Neri.  He  possessed  the  same  sweetness 
and  simplicity  of  character,  and  this  it  was  which  won  for  him 
the  confidence  and  love  of  the  thousands  to  whom  he  preached. 
Like  St.  Philip  Neri  also,  he  inspired  with  zeal  and  with  some 
measure  of  his  own  apostolic  spirit  the  young  priests,  who  had 
the  happiness  of  knowing  him.  The  sons  of  St.  Dominic  have 
reason  to  be  proud  of  their  saintly  and  well  beloved  brother. 
Men  like  Father  McKenna  have  proved  to  be  the  greatest  bless- 


DEVOTION  TO  HIS  PATRON  SAINTS.          241 

ings  our  Divine  Lord  has  vouchsafed  to  His  Church  in  this 
country. 

"Very  faithfully  yours  in  Christ, 

"JOHN  CARDINAL  FARLEY, 
"  Archbishop  of  New  York." 

The  picture  which  Cardinal  Farley  gives  of  the 
noted  missionary  is  true  to  life.  But  in  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  the  simplicity  and  the  sweet,  gentle  tempera- 
ment that  were  among  his  dominant  traits,  were  not  an 
indication  of  weakness  or  instability.  His  calm  ex- 
terior was  invariable,  except  when  sin  was  to  be  re- 
buked or  principle  defended.  Then  the  humble  friar 
could  rise  as  a  tower  of  strength.  Even  then  he  had 
the  rare  power  of  retaining  perfect  control  over  his 
indignation,  of  so  tempering  his  words  with  kindness 
that  he  not  only  demanded  the  respect,  but  won  the 
confidence  and  the  hearts  of  those  whom  he  reproved. 
An  extraordinary  combination  of  Christian  sweetness, 
humility  and  strength  blended  with  his  charity,  zeal 
and  holiness,  devotion  to  duty  and  faithfulness  in 
friendship  to  make  up  the  charm  of  that  splendid 
priestly  character  which  all  loved  and  admired. 


17 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

RESIGNS  AS  HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS:  GOES  TO 

EUROPE. 

(1891-1895) 

AT  no  time  in  the  history  of  the  province  have  the 
Dominicans  enjoyed  greater  popularity  as  conductors 
of  parochial  missions  than  during  the  period  when  this 
apostolic  work  was  under  Father  McKenna's  direction. 
His  principal  difficulty  seems  to  have  been  to  gratify 
the  pastors  in  the  east  on  one  point — the  almost  uni- 
versal request  of  applicants  for  missions  that  he  him- 
self would  be  one  of  the  missionaries.  This  was  not 
because  of  any  dissatisfaction  with  the  work  of  the 
others,  but  because  Father  McKenna's  years  of  ex- 
perience, his  eloquence,  his  magnetic  personality  and 
his  many  extraordinary  qualifications  caused  him  to  be 
desired  by  all  classes.  Not  infrequently,  indeed,  the 
superior's  inability  to  give  his  personal  services  led  to 
the  loss  or  to  the  cancelling  of  a  mission.  This  was 
particularly  the  case  when,  as  often  happened,  the  pas- 
tor was  a  native  of  Ireland,  and  a  little  national  pride 
—a  thing  so  natural  in  us  all — made  him  desirous  of 
exhibiting  the  genius  of  his  native  land. 

As  this  peculiar  attitude  was  far  more  prevalent  in 
the  east  than  in  the  south  or  the  mid-west,  and  as  in 
his  capacity  of  superior  he  could  arrange  the  personnel 
of  the  missions  according  to  his  best  judgment,  Father 
McKenna  labored  more  through  the  states  along  or 
near  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  while  he  sent  his  confreres 

242 


RESIGNS  AS  HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS.        243 

into  those  parts  where  the  Celtic  sentiment  was  not  so 
pronounced.  Still  another  motive  that  had  its  part  in 
this  action  was  that  in  the  east,  where  religious  antag- 
onism was  less  in  evidence,  the  eloquent  exhortative 
sermon,  in  which  the  great  missioner  pre-eminently  ex- 
celled, was  more  popular;  but  in  the  mid-west  and  the 
south  the  controversial  discourse,  for  which  he  had 
little  love,  was  often  expected. 

It  would  be  unfair  to  Father  McKenna's  memory  to 
imagine  that  he  chose  to  devote  his  talents  principally 
to  the  east  through  any  motive  of  pride  or  personal 
ease.  No  thought  could  have  been  farther  from  him 
than  this.  What  was  ever  uppermost  in  his  mind  was 
the  glory  of  God,  the  greater  good  of  the  Church  and 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  greater  number  of  souls. 
The  attainment  of  these  ends  constituted  his  life-work; 
they  were  the  causes  that  he  sought  to  advance  by  his 
every  deed;  they  always  determined  the  disposition  of 
the  missionary  forces  under  his  charge.  How  unhesi- 
tatingly he  would  himself  go  to  any  part  of  the  coun- 
try in  quest  of  souls  may  be  seen  from  the  labors 
through  which  we  have  traced  him. 

At  the  time  of  Father  McKenna's  return  to  regular 
mission  work  Philadelphia  was  one  of  the  principal 
fields  of  his  apostolic  activity.  Both  the  clergy  and 
the  people  had  become  enchanted  with  the  holy  priest. 
From  early  January  to  the  middle  of  June,  1891,  he 
took  part  in  six  parochial  missions  in  that  city,  while 
much  of  the  fall  of  the  same  year  and  of  1892  was  also 
given  to  the  service  of  the  Church  there.  If  one  may 
judge  from  the  accounts  of  these  missions,  enthusiasm 
over  his  work  must  have  run  high  indeed.  He  had 
now  become  as  conspicuous  a  figure  in  Philadelphia  as 


244  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

in  Brooklyn  or  Boston.  Humble  as  he  was,  the  trib- 
utes of  honor  paid  him  must  have  at  times  tempted  the 
holy  religious  to  pride.  But  we  may  rest  assured  that 
in  such  temptations,  if  they  came  upon  him,  he  sought 
and  found  safety  in  his  usual  refuge  of  prayer.  A 
noteworthy  feature  of  all  these  missions  was  the  large 
proportion  of  men  who  attended  them,  and  their  pres- 
ence in  such  great  numbers  was  doubtless  due  to 
Father  McKenna's  efforts.  As  a  sample  of  these 
great  missions  we  may  single  out  that  given,  May  4-17, 
1891,  for  the  vicar  general  of  the  diocese,  Very  Rev. 
Nicholas  Cantwell,  at  Saint  Philip's.  The  venerable 
rector  declared  that  he  had  not  seen  the  male  portion 
of  the  parish  turn  out  in  such  unusual  numbers  or 
manifest  so  much  earnestness  and  devotion  in  the  forty- 
seven  years  it  had  been  under  his  care. 

We  have  often  heard  the  holy  priest  say  that  the 
last  two  years  (1891-1892)  the  missions  were  under  his 
guidance,  were  among  the  busiest  of  his  life.  With 
the  documents  at  hand  we  can  follow  him  to  many 
cities,  both  large  and  small,  through  all  the  east,  into 
Ohio  and  Kentucky,  on  to  the  cathedrals  of  Milwaukee 
and  Galveston,  and  into  other  places  of  the  mid-west 
and  south.  A  mission  worthy  of  note  and  belonging 
to  this  time  was  one  given  at  Saint  Louis  Bertrand's, 
Louisville,  where  the  people  so  idolized  him  that  they 
almost  fancied  that  a  mission  without  him  must  lack 
something  essential  to  its  success.  But  wherever  he 
went,  the  same  story  has  to  be  told:  his  audiences  were 
composed  not  merely  of  the  congregations  for  which 
he  labored,  but  of  Catholics  and  non-Catholics  from 
different  parts  of  the  city.  Wherever  he  went,  his 
heart  and  soul  were  set  on  his  work — one  of  the  first 


RESIGNS  AS  HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS.        245 

requisites  for  success.  He  had  a  way  of  appealing  to 
sinners  that  was  irresistible  and  peculiarly  his  own. 
Pastors  have  often  told  the  writer  that  they  had  tried 
by  missions  and  in  every  conceivable  manner  to  arouse 
the  negligent  or  to  reach  the  backsliders  of  their  par- 
ishes, but  failed  until  they  secured  the  services  of 
Father  McKenna.  His  reputation  always  brought 
these  classes  to  hear  him,  with  the  one  result  that  his 
first  sermon  touched  their  hearts,  won  their  confidence 
and  opened  the  way  for  their  conversion. 

But  here  we  must  interrupt  the  narrative  of  the 
great  missionary's  apostolic  labors  to  speak  of  a  diary 
(accidentally  discovered)  that  throws  a  side-light  on 
his  spiritual  character.  Father  McKenna  returned  to 
Ohio  in  June,  1891,  to  be  present  at  the  ordination  of 
the  writer's  class  and  to  await  the  acceptance  of  his 
resignation  of  the  prior  ship  at  Saint  Joseph's,  which 
he  had  forwarded  from  Philadelphia.  Then  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Minneapolis  and  on  to  distant  Denver, 
where  he  gave  two  retreats — one  to  the  clergy  of  the 
diocese,  another  to  the  Sisters  of  Loretto.  A  diary 
detailing  the  incidents  of  this  journey  to  the  west  and 
back  suggests  that  he  was  probably  accustomed  to 
make  notes  on  his  travels  generally.  But  if  this  be  so, 
he  must  have  destroyed  them  later.  This  little  book 
that  has  been  fortunately  preserved  throws  much  in- 
teresting light  on  the  pious  priest's  character  and  inner 
thoughts,  and  perhaps  gives  an  additional  reason  for 
the  resignation  of  the  priorship  in  Ohio.  It  shows 
how  he  constantly  meditated  on  death,  which  he  seems 
to  have  believed  was  not  far  distant  for  himself.  Again 
and  again  he  recurs  to  this  topic — speaks  time  and 
again  of  the  uncertainty  of  life  at  his  age  and  of  the 


246  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

wisdom  of  being  prepared  for  the  Master's  summons. 
Other  topics  on  which  he  frequently  touches  are  charity 
towards  others,  the  power  and  necessity  of  prayer,  the 
value  of  time,  the  good  to  be  derived  from  study  and 
pious  reading.  The  works  he  notes  as  having  read 
reveal  not  only  his  good  judgment,  but  how  he  con- 
stantly occupied  his  mind  either  for  his  own  profit  or 
for  that  of  his  fellow-men. 

One  would  fancy  that  so  faithful  an  ambassador  of 
Christ  as  Father  McKenna  could  have  found  little  ta 
reproach  his  conscience  with.  But,  like  the  saints 
whose  humility  seems  to  have  caused  them  to  lose  sight 
of  their  virtues,  the  good  priest  constantly  accuses 
himself  here  of  all  manner  of  imperfections.  We  read, 
for  instance,  that  he  has  too  little  of  the  spirit  of 
prayer  and  meditation;  that  he  does  not  mortify  him- 
self or  practice  humility  as  he  should;  that  he  labors 
for  his  own  glory  rather  than  for  that  of  God  or 
for  the  good  of  the  Church  and  the  salvation  of 
souls ;  that  he  unduly  squanders  his  time ;  that  he  often 
sins  against  fraternal  charity.  Yet  to  all  who  were 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  noted  missioner,  it  is 
known  that  in  those  virtues  wherein  he  claims  to  have 
failed,  he  really  excelled.  How  different  the  view 
saints  have  ever  had  of  themselves  from  that  which 
others  have  entertained  of  them!  Doubtless,  how- 
ever, the  latter  view  is  the  more  correct  and  more  in 
keeping  with  that  of  God,  since  He  rewards  them  for 
their  lives,  while  we  honor  them  for  their  holiness. 

Yet  another  shortcoming  of  which  Father  McKenna 
(implicitly  at  least)  accuses  himself  in  this  diary,  is 
supersensitiveness.  This  was  a  surprise  to  the  writer 
— a  surprise  that  was  the  greater  because  such  a 


RESIGNS  AS  HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS.        247 

weakness  was  so  apparently  incompatible  with  the  mis- 
sioner's  remarkably  calm  exterior.  If  it  be  true  that 
he  suffered  in  this  way,  he  held  his  feelings  under  such 
masterful  control  that  they  were  never  suspected  even 
by  his  most  intimate  friends. 

Like  the  diary  of  his  visit  abroad,  that  of  his  western 
journey  shows  that  he  so  arranged  his  travels,  that  if 
at  all  possible,  he  might  say  mass  morning  after  morn- 
ing. To  this  end  he  shrank  from  no  personal  incon- 
venience. Only  necessity  or  the  good  of  souls,  he  felt, 
could  excuse  him  from  the  daily  exercise  of  so  sacred 
a  function.  Still  another  item  of  the  diary  that  cannot 
be  omitted  here  is  an  account  of  a  short  vacation  at 
the  seaside  between  his  return  from  the  west  and  a 
retreat  that  he  gave  at  Watertown,  Massachusetts. 
From  this  time  forward  it  was  Father  McKenna's 
custom  to  take  such  a  vacation  every  summer.  The 
bracing  salt  air  was  a  tonic  to  his  labor-worn  body 
that  he  could  find  in  no  other  relaxation — a  tonic  that 
gave  him  vigor  for  another  year's  hard  work.  He  had 
given  missions  in  the  churches  of  a  number  of  our  sea- 
side resorts  and  had  become  a  friend  of  their  pastors. 
Thus  he  stopped  on  these  occasions  either  at  the  pas- 
toral residence  or  with  friends  near  the  church,  that  he 
might  not  only  say  mass  every  morning,  but  pay  his 
usual  visits  to  the  Blessed  Sacrament  during  the  day. 
Not  infrequently  he  supplied  the  priest's  place  while 
he,  too,  sought  a  restful  change. 

Wherever  he  went,  the  zealous  apostle  kept  up  his 
efforts  in  the  causes  of  the  Rosary  and  Holy  Name 
societies,  although  he  did  not  always  meet  with  the 
sympathetic  response  in  regard  to  the  latter  for  which 
he  longed.  The  accounts  of  the  missions  conducted  by 


248  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

him  in  Philadelphia  show  that  he  had  extraordinary 
success  there  in  the  propagation  of  the  Rosary.  But 
with  the  Holy  Name  Society  the  case  seems  to  have 
been  somewhat  different.  Catholic  as  the  city  was,  the 
pastors  seem  to  have  been  slow  to  realize  the  confra- 
ternity's power  for  good  among  the  men  of  their  flocks. 
This  is  all  the  more  strange  when  contrasted  with  the 
present  flourishing  status  of  the  society  in  the  old 
Quaker  town.  Today  there  is  perhaps  no  city  in  the 
land  where  the  organization  of  the  Holy  Name,  rela- 
tively speaking,  is  stronger  in  numbers,  better  regu- 
lated, or  receives  more  zealous  and  enthusiastic  support 
from  both  the  clergy  and  the  people.  This  change  of 
sentiment,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  is  largely  due  to 
Father  McKenna's  long  and  earnest  advocacy  of  the 
cause  and  to  the  modification  of  the  Church's  law 
governing  the  confraternity  which  his  repeated  peti- 
tions finally  procured. 

As  has  been  said  more  than  once  in  the  course  of 
these  pages,  the  fathers  sought  rather  to  prevent  than 
to  invite  mention  of  their  missionary  efforts  in  the 
public  prints.  Father  McKenna  followed  the  same 
course.  Yet  the  humble  friar  for  more  than  twenty 
years  kept  for  his  personal  use  records  of  the  apostolic 
labors  in  which  he  took  part.  But  these  records  have 
disappeared.  For  these  reasons,  it  is  now  difficult,  if 
not  impossible,  to  give  a  complete  and  accurate  ac- 
count or  a  chronological  list  of  his  multitudinous  mis- 
sions. Fortunately,  however,  his  extraordinarily  ac- 
tive and  effective  career  is  still  well  known.  And  this, 
together  with  the  writer's  numerous  conversations  with 
the  saintly  priest  himself  and  the  many  notices  of  his 
work  that,  in  spite  of  his  opposition,  found  their  way 


RESIGNS  AS  HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS.        249 

into  the  papers,  has  enabled  us  to  furnish  the  reader 
with  what  we  may  be  allowed  to  believe  a  fairly  com- 
prehensive history  of  one  whose  life  richly  deserves  to 
be  recorded  and  saved  from  oblivion. 

We  cannot  do  better  than  to  let  Father  McKenna 
tell  in  his  own  characteristic  way  why  so  few  records 
are  to  be  found.  His  letter  is  full  of  interest,  confirms 
the  accuracy  of  much  that  has  been  said  in  the  course 
of  these  pages,  and  shows  the  keen  interest  the  grand 
old  man  continued  to  take  in  affairs  to  the  end  of  his 
days. 

"I  hear  that  you  are  devoting  the  summer  [he  writes]  to  a 
search  of  the  files  of  old  Catholic  papers  for  data  on  Dominican 
missions.  This  is  a  good  work,  and  I  am  glad  you  are  doing  it. 
But  don't  be  surprised  or  discouraged  if  you  do  not  find  as  many 
accounts  of  missions  given  by  the  fathers  as  you  expected ;  for, 
as  I  believe  I  have  told  you  before,  by  no  means  all  their  missions 
were  noticed  in  the  papers.  Our  early  missionaries,  following 
the  spirit  that  appears  to  be  traditional  in  the  Order,  were 
strongly  opposed  to  published  accounts  of  their  labors.  Dur- 
ing the  years  I  was  head  of  the  eastern  band  of  missionaries  the 
same  course  was  observed  though  perhaps  not  quite  so  rigor- 
ously. There  were  several  reasons  for  this,  not  the  least  of 
which  was  that  we  did  not  think  it  proper  to  be  boasting  of  our 
work.  Besides,  we  thought  it  better  to  adhere  rather  closely  to 
the  Order's  traditions  in  such  matters.  Again,  our  missions  were 
always  so  well  attended  that  additional  numbers,  attracted  by 
notices  in  the  public  prints,  might  at  times  have  been  a  serious 
inconvenience  to  the  people  of  the  parishes  in  which  we  were  em- 
ployed. This  we  felt  would  not  be  right.  It  may  also  be  added 
that  we  had  as  many  missions  as  we  could  well  conduct  and  at 
the  same  time  safeguard  the  health  of  the  Fathers  engaged  in 
that  work. 

"At  times,  but  not  very  often,  I  gave  the  representatives  of 


250  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Catholic  papers  brief  notes  on  our  missions — especially  in  re- 
gard to  places,  dates,  pastors,  etc.  This  was  done  merely  to 
satisfy  the  editors  who  were  often  provoked  at  us,  and  to  let  the 
clergy  remember  that  we  were  engaged  in  the  work.  The  glow- 
ing accounts  that  appeared  here  and  there,  came  from  the  pens 
of  persons  who  did  not  belong  to  the  Order.  Of  late  years  I 
have  often  thought  that  perhaps,  for  the  sake  of  the  history  of 
our  missions,  it  would  have  been  better  if  we  had  done  a  little 
more  advertising.  No  doubt  this  is  your  opinion.  Nor  can  I 
now  see  how  such  a  course  would  have  been  blameworthy.  In 
any  case,  our  system  prevented  accounts  of  many  of  our  mis- 
sions (some  of  the  very  best)  from  appearing  in  the  papers  at 
all.  For  many  years  I  wrote  (for  myself)  records  of  the  mis- 
sions on  which  I  was  engaged;  but  I  discontinued  this  when  I 
ceased  to  be  director  of  the  missions.  I  no  longer  have  these 
records,  and  do  not  know  what  became  of  them. 

"I  have  written  these  lines  merely  to  give  you  some  positive 
knowledge  respecting  a  matter  in  which  I  know  you  to  be  deeply 
interested.  My  days  of  activity  are  now  over.  I  am  the  oldest 
priest  in  the  Province,  and  the  one  whose  labors  on  the  missions 
date  back  the  farthest.  So  I  felt  that  a  word  from  me  on  the 
subject  of  your  studies,  while  my  memory  is  still  good,  might 
both  aid  you  and  be  a  source  of  authentic  information  on  one  of 
the  Province's  good  works."1 

Father  McKenna  had  now  been  director  of  the 
eastern  missions  for  more  than  twelve  years.  Bravely 
had  he  borne  the  weight  of  the  burden  and  faced  the 
heat  of  the  day;  scrupulously  had  he  discharged  his 
various  duties.  Success  had  crowned  his  efforts  in  all 
that  he  had  undertaken.  But  the  good  friar  had  be- 
gun to  feel  the  weight  of  his  years,  and  he  was  con- 
vinced that  the  responsible  position  he  had  held  should 
be  placed  upon  shoulders  younger  and  stronger  than 
his.  Other  influences  that  had  their  part  in  his  deter- 

i  Letter  from  Blauvelt,  New  York,  August  9,  1916. 


RESIGNS  AS  HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS.        251 

mination  to  seek  relief  were  his  belief  in  the  spirit  of 
the  Order,  which  is  opposed  to  perpetuation  in  office, 
and  the  conviction  that  it  is  a  part  of  wisdom  in  a  re- 
ligious institute  to  train  its  younger  men  in  the  art  of 
governing.  Accordingly,  at  the  close  of  1892  he  gave 
up  his  post  of  honor  and  stepped  down  into  the 
ranks  with  a  glad  heart. 

When  the  saintly  man  resigned  the  position  of  head 
of  the  missions,  he  had  been  engaged  in  that  active 
apostolate  more  than  two  and  twenty  years.  During 
that  time  he  had  traversed  time  and  again,  in  the  ful- 
fillment of  his  vocation,  all  the  country  from  the  At- 
lantic seaboard  to  the  Mississippi  River,  and  from 
Canada  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Few  were  the  large 
cities  in  that  great  stretch  of  territory  that  had  not 
profited  by  his  zeal.  Many  also  were  the  towns,  large 
and  small,  the  hamlets  and  rural  congregations  that 
had  reaped  the  benefit  of  his  labors.  So  also  more 
than  once  in  these  years  had  he  crossed  the  "  Father  of 
Waters,"  carrying  his  message  of  truth  to  the  people 
beyond  its  shores  and  stirring  their  hearts  with  his 
superb  eloquence.  Possibly  no  clergyman  in  the  land, 
whether  bishop  or  priest,  had  a  wider  circle  of  admirers 
or  was  more  generally  known  to  its  Catholic  popula- 
tion. Far  and  wide  his  name  was  almost  a  household 
word — his  repute  for  pulpit  oratory,  zeal  and  holiness 
second  to  none. 

Few  were  the  cathedrals  east  of  the  Mississippi  in 
which  Father  McKenna  had  not  preached,  lectured, 
given  retreats,  or  conducted  missions;  in  many  he  had 
performed  all  these  good  offices.  His  name  was  fa- 
miliar to  all  our  bishops.  He  was  admired  by  all, 
while  with  nearly  all  he  was  personally  acquainted;  of 


252  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

many  he  was  a  close  and  trusted  friend.  Thus,  the 
noted  missioner  was  at  the  zenith  of  his  glory  and  in- 
fluence when  he  modestly  laid  aside  a  position  of  honor 
to  serve  in  the  ranks  and  under  ohedience  to  another. 
His  act  was  of  the  kind  that  has  often  charmed  us  in 
the  lives  of  the  saints. 

As  gold  in  the  crucible,  so  the  real  character  of  a 
priest  or  a  religious  is  tried  in  the  position  of  an  in- 
ferior, where  he  is  subjected  to  the  test  of  humility. 
This  is  especially  true  when  one  has  grown  old  in  the 
post  of  superior  and  then  lays  down  the  reins  of 
authority.  Never  did  Father  McKenna's  great  soul 
shine  with  more  splendor  than  after  he  returned  to  the 
rank  of  a  subject;  for  it  was  then  that  it  could  be  seen 
how  completely  he  had  become  a  man  of  God.  The 
crowning  virtues  of  the  religious  life — humility  and 
obedience — which  then  came  into  clearer  relief,  were 
as  complements  filling  out  the  great  friar's  beautiful 
character.  Doubtless  it  was  due  to  the  blessing  of 
God,  bestowed  as  compensation  for  his  zeal  and  sub- 
missive spirit,  and  for  the  example  he  thus  gave  his 
younger  co-laborers,  that  Father  McKenna,  in  spite  of 
his  age,  grew  rather  than  diminished  in  favor  with  the 
Catholic  public  after  his  resignation  from  the  position 
of  head  of  the  missions. 

Many  another  with  far  less  reason  might  have  been 
content  to  live  in  ease,  to  seek  happiness  in  dignified 
retirement,  to  glory  in  past  achievements.  Not  so 
with  Father  McKenna.  He  did  not  give  up  the  charge 
of  the  missions  to  find  rest  from  labor;  nor  was  he  of 
the  kind  to  be  satisfied  to  bask  in  glory.  His  quench- 
less zeal  could  not  tolerate  the  one,  while  his  humility 
forbade  the  other.  He  sought  no  favors;  he  asked  na 


RESIGNS  AS  HEAD  OF  THE  MISSIONS.        253 

exemptions;  he  placed  himself  on  the  same  level  as  the 
youngest  of  his  confreres;  his  obedience  to  authority 
was  not  only  admirable  but  edifying;  his  tireless  indus- 
try was  an  inspiration  to  all;  his  ardor  for  souls  caused 
him  to  continue  to  seek  new  means  for  their  salvation. 

One  good  effect  of  Father  McKenna's  resigning  the 
charge  of  the  missions  was  that  it  gave  him  more  time 
for  his  other  apostolates.  He  seems  to  have  multi- 
plied his  efforts  in  the  harvest  of  souls.  Indeed,  we 
now  find  him  almost  everywhere  and  engaged  in  almost 
every  work  for  the  salvation  of  men — preaching  or  lec- 
turing on  all  manner  of  occasions  and  topics,  giving 
missions,  bringing  out  new  editions  of  his  devotional 
works,  conducting  retreats  for  the  clergy  and  the  vari- 
ous sisterhoods  and  in  colleges  and  seminaries,  laboring 
in  the  interest  of  the  Third  Order  of  Saint  Dominic, 
broadening  his  ministry  in  the  cause  of  the  Rosary 
Confraternity  and  the  Holy  Name  Society.  Other 
sodalities  and  devotions,  though  not  so  noticeably,  also 
felt  the  benefit  of  his  spiritual  touch.  Surely  the  hand 
of  God  must  have  sustained  the  holy  man  in  his  exer- 
tions. 

During  the  period  of  which  we  now  speak  (1891- 
1895),  a  number  of  new  titles  appear  among  his  lec- 
tures. Such,  for  instance,  are  "  Ireland's  Faith  and 
Fortitude";  "The  Nun  in  Ireland:  Her  Trials  and 
Triumphs";  "Marriage  a  Sacrament";  "Is  Christian 
Marriage  a  Failure?"  The  eloquent  orator  had  made 
so  strong  an  impression  with  his  discourse,  "Marriage 
and  Divorce"  that  he  appears  to  have  been  urged  to 
discuss  the  seventh  sacrament  under  its  every  aspect. 
Zealous  priest  that  he  was,  seeking  to  reach  all  classes, 
Father  McKenna  so  ordered  his  lecture,  "  The  Nun  in 


254  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Ireland:  Her  Trials  and  Triumphs"  that  it  might 
serve  both  to  convey  to  the  people  a  truer  idea  of  the 
heroic  and  fruitful  life  of  a  nun  and  to  give  the  sisters 
themselves  higher  ideals  of  their  character  and  posi- 
tion as  spouses  and  servants  of  Christ.  This  lecture 
was  delivered  for  many  sisterhoods  through  the  coun- 
try, and  we  may  be  assured  that,  coming  from  one  of 
the  friar's  commanding  personality  and  persuasive 
powers,  it  did  much  to  encourage  these  saintly  souls  in 
their  lives  of  poverty,  labor  and  self-denial. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  nearly  all  of  the  mission- 
ary's lectures  were  given  in  behalf  of  deserving  char- 
ity. Nor  did  they  fail  to  draw  large  audiences.  It  is 
not  rare  that  we  read  in  the  papers  of  the  day  such 
notices  as:  "  It  has  been  announced  that  the  well  known 
missionary,  Very  Rev.  Charles  H.  McKenna,  O.P., 
will  deliver  a  lecture  [on  such  or  such  a  subject]. 
The  mention  of  Father  McKenna's  name  is  a  sufficient 
guarantee  of  the  rare  treat  that  is  in  store  for  the  large 
audience  that  will  gather  to  hear  the  famous  Domin- 
ican." 

Another  cause  of  joy  to  Father  McKenna  at  this 
time  was  the  privilege  he  now  enjoyed  of  devoting 
himself  more  especially  to  men.  Thus  we  find  him 
frequently  confining  his  services  to  the  men's  part  of 
the  missions.  This  arrangement,  however,  rather  in- 
creased than  lessened  his  labors,  since  it  necessitated 
more  travelling  to  reach  the  great  number  of  places 
to  which  he  was  called  to  assist  in  reviving  the  piety  of 
the  faithful. 

Although  the  unrelaxed  strain  began  to  make  serious 
inroads  on  the  good  man's  health,  he  continued  his 
labors  until  he  was  at  the  point  of  collapse — until,  in 


GOES  TO  EUROPE.  255 

fact,  it  was. feared  that  his  end  might  not  be  far  dis- 
tant. Physicians  urged  him  to  take  an  ocean  voyage 
and  to  spend  some  months  in  Europe  as  the  surest 
means  of  regaining  his  health.  Without  suspending 
his  missionary  work,  Father  McKenna  wrote  to  con- 
sult his  provincial,  the  Very  Rev.  A.  V.  Higgins,  from 
whom  he  received  the  following  letter,  which  shows  the 
great  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  the  highest  su- 
periors of  his  province  and  Order: 

"  ST.  MAEY'S  CHUECH, 
"  NEW  HAVEN,  CONN., 

"April  28th,  1895. 
"Dear  Father  McKenna: 

"  A  letter  came  yesterday  from  the  Master  General  giving  you 
permission  to  take  the  European  trip.  He  says  that  he  grants 
the  permission  gladly.  There  are  no  limits  or  conditions  of  any 
kind.  Make  it  as  long  as  you  can,  and  wherever  your  fancy 
leads.  May  it  prove  to  you  full  of  health  and  strength  and 
pleasure  and  every  blessing.  God  knows  that  you  have  earned 
far  more  than  that  from  the  gratitude  of  the  Order;  and  I  am 
sure  that  the  heart  of  every  brother  in  the  Province  will  be  glad 
that  you  should  receive  so  much  recognition  of  your  worth  and 
of  long,  hard  services  so  faithfully  and  unselfishly  devoted  to 
the  interests  of  the  Province.  At  all  the  shrines  and  holy  places 
you  may  visit,  I  ask  a  remembrance. 

"  With  much  love,  yours, 

"A.  V.  HIGGINS,  O.P." 

The  zealous  ambassador  of  Christ  was  giving  a  mis- 
sion at  Saint  Ann's  Church,  Philadelphia,  when  he 
received  the  above  letter.  But,  as  he  had  other  en- 
gagements which,  in  spite  of  his  illness,  he  could  not 
bring  himself  to  cancel,  it  was  not  until  late  in  May 
that  he  sailed  for  Spain. 

The  holy  missioner,  of  course,  did  not  fail. to  visit  as 


256  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

many  shrines  as  his  strength  permitted;  but  the  one 
which  appealed  to  his  devotion  with  especial  force  was 
the  birthplace  of  Saint  Dominic  at  Caleruega,  Old 
Castile,  and  thither  he  directed  his  steps  at  once.  We 
can  better  imagine  than  portray  the  pious  friar's  sen- 
timents— how  he  poured  out  his  soul  in  prayer  at  this 
famed  Castilian  shrine  so  rich  in  memories  and  tradi- 
tions of  the  saint  of  all  others  dear  to  his  heart. 

Unfortunately,  the  missionary's  condition  did  not 
permit  him  to  go  to  all  the  places  of  interest  and  de- 
votion he  had  intended  to  visit  in  Spain.  From 
Caleruega  he  returned  to  Avila,  where  he  had  the  hap- 
piness of  meeting  the  learned  Father  General  of  his 
Order,  Most  Rev.  Andrew  Friihwirth,  now  a  cardi- 
nal in  curia.  Between  the  two  priests  there  arose  an 
intimate  friendship  which  was  broken  only  by  the  death 
of  Father  McKenna.  At  Avila  he  visited  the  birth- 
place of  Saint  Teresa  and  her  first  establishment  of 
Carmelite  Nuns,  prayed  before  her  relics,  and  resolved 
to  read  some  of  her  spiritual  writings  each  day. 
Thence  he  travelled  leisurely  to  Madrid,  Cordova, 
Seville,  Cadiz,  Gibraltar,  receiving  the  greatest  kind- 
ness from  his  Spanish  brethren  along  the  route.  From 
Gibraltar  he  continued  his  trip  to  Genoa,  Naples  and 
Pompeii.  His  health  had  so  improved  that  he  enjoyed 
to  the  full  his  travels  in  the  Spanish  and  Italian  penin- 
sulas from  Madrid  to  Rome. 

It  was  on  the  evening  of  Saturday,  July  6,  that 
Father  McKenna  arrived  in  Rome,  much  fatigued 
from  his  journey.  He  was  able,  however,  during  the 
following  five  days  to  visit  a  number  of  the  city's  chief 
points  of  interest  and  to  pray  at  many  of  its  noted 
shrines.  But  on  July  11  he  was  taken  so  seriously  ill 
that  he  was  advised  by  his  doctors  to  go  north  at  once 


GOES  TO  EUROPE.  257 

and  seek  rest  at  the  seashore.  But,  sick  as  he  was,  the 
missionary  was  too  faithful  a  servant  of  God  to  lose 
the  opportunity  now  in  his  hands  of  furthering  the 
salvation  of  souls.  For  years  he  had  sought  in  vain  a 
relaxation  of  the  ironclad  Clementine  Constitution  that 
had  retarded  the  growth  of  the  Rosary  and  Holy  Name 
societies  in  the  United  States.  When,  therefore,  he 
received  permission  to  go  to  Europe  he  determined  to 
make  a  personal  appeal  to  the  Holy  Father  in  the  name 
of  his  brethren  in  America  for  leave  to  establish  these 
confraternities  wherever  they  were  desired.  As  he  had 
already  pleaded  his  cause  with  the  authorities  of  his 
Order  and  had  made  arrangements  for  an  audience 
with  Leo  XIII  on  July  18,  when  he  intended  to  lay  it 
before  that  great  Pontiff,  he  would  pay  no  attention 
to  the  advice  of  physicians  until  he  had  fulfilled  this 
mission.  Accordingly,  the  zealous  apostle  went  to 
Tivoli,  where  he  remained  with  the  Irish  Dominicans 
until  the  day  appointed  for  the  papal  audience. 

Returning  to  Rome  on  the  morning  of  July  18,  he 
went  at  once  with  Archbishop  Flood  to  the  Vatican, 
strongly  urged  Leo  XIII  to  grant  the  favor  he  had 
come  so  far  to  solicit  in  behalf  of  the  Rosary  and  the 
Holy  Name,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  promise  that 
his  request  would  be  favorably  considered.  As  he 
knew  well  the  deliberateness  of  Rome,  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  did  not  expect  an  immediate  answer  to  his  peti- 
tion, but  he  hoped  that  with  the  aid  of  prayer  his  ef- 
forts would  bring  results  in  the  near  future.  Nor 
were  his  expectations  to  go  long  unrealized;  nay,  his 
zeal  was  soon  to  be  rewarded  with  blessings  for  the 
apostolates  of  the  Rosary  and  the  Holy  Name  through 
all  the  Christian  world. 

18 


258  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

As  the  holy  priest's  continued  poor  health,  culmi- 
nating in  his  serious  illness,  had  convinced  him  that  he 
had  not  long  to  live,  he  determined  on  his  return  to 
America  to  ask  to  be  relieved  from  the  work  of  the 
missions  that  he  might  have  more  time  to  prepare  for 
the  end.  This  intention  he  made  known  to  Leo  XIII, 
but  the  great  Pontiff,  who  knew  of  the  friar's  fruitful 
labors,  told  him  that  he  must  follow  his  own  example 
and  die  in  the  harness.  This  incident  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  thus  records  in  his  diary:  "Came  to  Rome 
Thursday,  and  got  an  audience  with  the  Holy  Father. 
I  am  now  to  continue  to  labor  to  the  end;  and  he 
promised  me  great  reward.33  Never,  perhaps,  as  the 
reader  will  see,  was  papal  order  more  fruitfully  fol- 
lowed. 

Having  satisfied  his  conscience  on  these  points, 
Father  McKenna  prepared  to  follow  the  advice  of 
his  doctors.  On  July  19  he  left  Rome,  travelling  by 
easy  stages,  and  stopping  at  Genoa,  Aix-les-Bains, 
Macon  and  Paris.  His  illness  was  such  that  he  was 
barely  able  to  say  mass,  much  less  to  visit  points  of  in- 
terest or  devotion.  He  was  deeply  grieved  over  his 
inability  to  go  to  Lourdes,  so  intimately  associated 
with  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God,  towards  whom  the 
pious  Friar  Preacher  cultivated  the  tenderest  devo- 
tion. Lourdes,  indeed,  was  a  place  of  which  he  could 
never  grow  weary.  He  felt  that  the  many  well-at- 
tested miracles  wrought  there  were  not  only  a  most 
practical  refutation  of  the  atheism  of  today,  but  a 
strong  support  for  the  faith  of  Catholics  in  a  ma- 
terialistic and  rationalistic  age. 

It  was  on  July  25  that  the  missionary  reached  Lon- 
don, where  he  was  obliged  to  rest  for  nearly  a  week. 


GOES  TO  EUROPE.  259 

The  journey  thence  to  Ireland  was  broken  by  brief 
visits  to  the  Dominican  Sisters  at  Stone  and  the  Do- 
minican Fathers  of  Hawkesyard  Priory,  Rugely.  Ar- 
riving at  Dublin,  the  invalid  proceeded  to  Tallaght, 
twelve  miles  distant,  to  say  mass  at  the  tomb  of  the 
saintly  Father  Tom  Burke  and  to  spend  the  feast  of 
Saint  Dominic  (August  4)  with  his  brethren.  The 
next  day,  although  he  was  very  ill,  he  started  for 
Kilkee,  a  noted  watering-place  whose  baths  had  been 
strongly  recommended  to  him  by  Archbishop  Flood 
and  the  Irish  Dominicans  at  Rome. 

On  the  way  north  from  Rome  physicians  discov- 
ered that  Father  McKenna,  as  a  result  of  his  great 
labors,  was  suffering  as  much  from  mental  as  from 
physical  fatigue.  Some,  indeed,  feared  that  the  cele- 
brated missionary  might  lose  his  mind.  But  he  was  so 
greatly  benefited  by  the  quiet  and  the  bathing  at  Kilkee 
that  before  the  end  of  September  he  was  able  to  visit 
the  places  in  Ireland  which  he  wished  specially  to  see.2 
Among  these,  quite  naturally,  were  Fallalea  and  Mag- 
hera — the  place  of  his  birth  and  the  scenes  of  his  early 
youth.  He  always  seemed  to  find  Ireland  the  most 
restful  country  in  the  world — possibly  because  the 
strong,  simple  faith  of  its  people,  which  he  thought 
was  not  just  like  that  of  any  other  nation,  appealed  to 
him  and  brought  no  little  consolation  to  his  soul.  As 
he  spent  the  remainder  of  September  and  October 
travelling  leisurely  through  the  Emerald  Isle  and  Eng- 
land, it  was  not  until  in  the  month  of  November  that 
he  returned  to  New  York. 

It  was  during  the  period  of  which  we  now  speak 

2  For  the  account  of  Father  McKenna's  journey  from  Rome  to  Ireland 
we  are  indebted  to  the  Very  Rev.  A.  L.  McMahon,  O.P.,  who  accompanied 
him. 


260  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

that  the  writer  obtained  a  knowledge  at  first-hand  of 
the  international  reputation  that  Father  McKenna  had 
acquired  as  an  orator  and  successful  missionary.  At 
Rome,  and  through  Italy,  France,  Germany,  Belgium, 
England  and  Ireland — wherever,  in  short,  there  were 
Dominicans — all  were  saddened  to  hear  of  the  great 
friar's  illness,  and  prayed  for  his  recovery.  All  were 
anxious  to  meet  again,  or  to  see  for  the  first  time  one 
of  their  own  of  whom  they  had  heard  nothing  but  words 
of  highest  praise,  and  whom  they  appeared  to  revere 
almost  as  a  saint.  It  was  gratifying  to  see  such  re- 
gard manifested  for  an  American  by  Europeans,  who 
look  upon  the  people  of  the  United  States  as  given  to 
the  cultivation  of  almost  anything  rather  than  holiness. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

FRIENDSHIPS  AND  VOCATIONS. 

THERE  is  an  adage  that  says:  "Tell  me  who  your 
friends  are,  and  I  will  tell  you  what  you  are."  Few, 
if  any,  of  the  wise  old  sayings  based  on  the  experience 
of  ages  contain  a  fuller  measure  of  truth.  One  cannot 
well  rise  far  above,  and  is  not  apt  to  descend  much 
below,  the  moral  standard  of  those  whom  one  chooses 
as  friends  and  confidants;  for  friendship  is  one  of  the 
most  sacred  things  of  life,  and  those  who  are  bound 
together  by  its  intimate  ties  are  sure  to  stand  on  the 
same  moral  plane. 

The  reader  has  seen  that  Father  McKenna  had  nu- 
merous admirers  throughout  the  country;  that  per- 
haps no  ecclesiastic  in  America  was  more  widely  known 
or  more  generally  revered.  So  also  had  he  a  broad 
circle  of  friends.  We  have  known  no  other  who  had 
more;  none  who  loved  his  friends  more  truly,  or  was 
more  truly  loved  by  them.  His  tender  and  candid 
nature  went  out  unstintedly  to  the  good  and  honest, 
while  the  charm  of  his  own  personality  and  earnest, 
guileless  simplicity  were  as  a  magnet  that  drew  others 
to  him.  No  one  could  prize  friendship  more  highly 
than  he:  he  regarded  it  as  a  blessed  thing.  With  him, 
to  be  a  friend  once  was  to  remain  a  friend  unto  the 
end.  And  he  had  in  him  an  indefinable  something 
that  attracted  people  to  him,  bound  them  to  him,  held 
them  to  him  by  the  fastest  and  most  affectionate  bonds. 

More  than  once  in  the  course  of  this  biography,  the 

261 


262  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

reader's  attention  has  been  called  to  the  great  mis- 
sionary's friends;  but  his  friendships  formed  so  notice- 
able— nay,  so  extraordinary — a  characteristic  of  his  life 
that  they  deserve  a  special  word,  even  at  the  risk  of 
repetition.  But  to  avoid  the  undue  length  that  a  de- 
tailed list  of  his  many  friends  would  necessitate,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  prevent  the  wounds  that  might  come 
from  the  mention  of  some  and  the  omission  of  others, 
we  shall  speak  here  of  this  remarkable  trait  of  the 
pious  priest  only  in  outline.  His  charity,  especially 
for  the  poor,  the  afflicted  and  the  suffering,  knew  no 
bounds.  Without  hesitation  he  would  deprive  himself 
even  of  the  necessities  of  life  for  others.  On  more  than 
one  occasion  has  he  been  known  to  give  his  overcoat  in 
the  coldest  weather  to  some  destitute  person  whom  he 
chanced  to  meet  in  the  street,  thus  exposing  his  own 
health,  or  even  his  life.  God  alone  knows  how  often, 
or  in  how  many  ways,  the  great  churchman  has  gone 
to  the  assistance  of  the  poor  of  Christ  in  the  hour  of 
need  and  tribulation.  The  virtue  of  affection  for  his 
kindred  he  possessed  in  a  high  degree.  But  his  love 
and  appreciation  of  his  friends  had  something  in  it  that 
appeared  to  be  quite  special — peculiar,  indeed,  to  him- 
self. He  never  forgot  them;  it  was  one  of  the  joys  of 
his  life  to  meet  them,  or  to  have  them  with  him;  there 
was  no  inconvenience,  however  great,  that  he  would 
not  readily  undergo  for  them. 

Father  McKenna  counted  his  friends  among  people 
of  every  walk  and  station  of  life.  The  poor  and  the 
lowly  came  to  him  because  of  his  kindness  of  heart; 
the  sinner  for  spiritual  help  and  consolation;  the  good 
for  counsel  and  guidance.  It  was  his  character  and 
his  virtues  that  drew  the  hierarchy  and  the  clergy  to 


FRIENDSHIPS  AND  VOCATIONS.  263 

him,  for  they  found  in  him  the  true  religious,  the  true 
priest,  the  true  man  of  God  whose  personality  was 
irresistible,  whose  prayers  they  desired.  While  the 
missionary's  retiring  disposition  prevented  him  from 
seeking  any  one's  friendship,  his  open  and  trustful 
candor  impelled  him  to  accept  it  when  it  was  tendered. 

Father  McKenna's  labors  carried  him  into  almost 
every  part  of  the  United  States  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  In  his  wide  travels  and  in  the  exercise  of 
his  long,  extensive  ministry  he  came  into  contact  with 
thousands  of  our  Catholic  clergy  and  nearly  all  the 
American  hierarchy  of  the  past  forty  years,  and  most 
of  them  became  his  friends. 

During  the  past  twenty-five  years,  in  whatever  part 
of  the  country  a  member  of  the  Order  of  Saint  Dom- 
inic happened  to  travel,  he  was  sure  to  be  greeted  with 
the  question:  "How  is  my  friend,  good  old  Father 
McKenna?"  invariably  followed  by  remarks  such 
as:  "Father  McKenna  is  the  greatest  missionary  the 
United  States  has  ever  produced " ;  "  There  is  a  man 
who  is  one  of  the  brightest  ornaments  of  his  Order 
and  of  the  American  Church  " ;  "  There  surely  is  a  true 
priest,  a  true  man  of  God  and  a  saint " ;  "  I  have  never 
heard  any  one  whose  preaching  pleased  me  so  well"; 
"I  have  never  met  a  priest  whom  I  liked  so  much"; 
"  I  have  never  cherished  the  friendship  of  any  one  as  I 
cherish  his  " ;  "  He  is  one  of  the  greatest  ecclesiastical 
orators  the  country  has  seen";  "I  wish  I  were  as  sure 
of  heaven  as  that  man,"  and  so  on.  Nor  were  such 
observations  confined  to  the  diocesan  clergy ;  they  came 
also  from  the  laity,  from  members  of  every  religious 
order,  from  bishops  and  archbishops  alike.  His  lay 
friends  were  not  less  numerous  than  his  clerical.  We 


264  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

have  never  heard  of  any  layman  who  was  a  friend  of 
the  illustrious  friar,  and  who  was  not  also  an  exemplary 
Catholic.  Bishop  Shahan  has  told  us  how  many  of 
these  eagerly  awaited  the  time  when  Father  McKenna 
in  his  constant  travels  would  come  to  their  city,  that 
they  might  lay  bare  their  souls  to  him,  and  seek  his 
spiritual  counsel  and  guidance. 

The  respect  and  reverence  shown  Father  McKenna 
on  all  occasions  was  remarkable.  It  has  been  the 
good  fortune  of  the  writer  to  attend  a  number  of 
clerical  gatherings  such  as  church  dedications,  layings 
of  corner-stones,  etc.,  at  which  the  venerable  clergy- 
man was  present.  Invariably  he  seemed  to  be  singled 
out  for  special  attention.  People  appeared  to  regard 
it  as  an  honor  to  meet  the  humble  missioner — to  con- 
sider it  a  blessing  to  be  allowed  to  take  his  hand  in  a 
hearty  grasp. 

As  an  illustration,  we  will  mention  two  striking  in- 
stances from  among  the  many  that  have  come  under 
our  own  personal  observation.  One  was  at  the  sev- 
enth centenary  celebration  of  the  papal  confirmation 
of  the  Order  of  Friars  Preacher,  held  at  the  Domin- 
ican College,  Washington,  D.  C.,  November  14-19, 
1916.  A  most  vivid  and  pleasant  recollection  is  the 
visit  of  felicitation  paid  by  the  cardinals,  the  Apostolic 
Delegate,  the  bishops  and  the  clergy  who  attended  the 
celebration,  to  the  grand  old  friar's  cell.  All  were 
profuse  in  their  praises  of  his  virtues  and  of  his  labors 
in  the  cause  of  religion. 

A  yet  more  noticeable  instance  took  place  in  April, 
1908,  during  the  historic  centennial  celebration  of  the 
establishment  of  the  diocese  of  New  York.  Tuesday, 
April  28,  was  devoted  to  the  religious  solemnities  held 


FRIENDSHIPS  AND  VOCATIONS.  265 

in  the  stately  Gothic  cathedral  of  Saint  Patrick.  The 
different  religious  orders  were  numerously  represented, 
while  hundreds  of  secular  priests  and  monsignori  from 
far  and  near  were  in  attendance.  The  great  clerical 
throng  formed  in  line,  and,  followed  by  members  of  the 
hierarchy,  marched  into  the  cathedral  for  the  mass. 
The  place  assigned  the  Dominicans  was  on  the  right 
of  the  main  aisle  about  two  thirds  the  way  towards  the 
altar-rail.  When  the  monsignori,  bishops  and  arch- 
bishops reached  this  place,  seeing  Father  McKenna 
seated  among  his  brethren,  they  halted  as  if  by  agree- 
ment to  bow  to  him.  Many  of  them  stepped  into  the 
pew  where  the  venerable  missioner  sat  to  take  his  hand 
and  to  speak  a  kind  word.  Surely  this  action  of  the 
church  dignitaries  on  so  solemn  an  occasion  and  in  the 
presence  of  thousands  was  an  extraordinary  token  of 
friendship,  love  and  esteem — a  tribute  greater  than 
which  it  would  be  hard  to  pay  a  simple  priest. 

But  Father  McKenna  was  the  recipient  of  many 
other  expressions  of  regard  perhaps  as  remarkable  as 
these.  At  more  than  one  Holy  Name  rally,  when  the 
church  was  packed  with  members  of  the  society,  the 
great  audience,  to  show  their  reverence  for  the  holy 
friar,  rose  in  a  body  at  the  mention  of  his  name  in  the 
course  of  the  sermon.  Quite  likely  many  of  the  readers 
of  this  volume  will  remember  having  been  present  on 
some  such  occasion.  Again,  various  persons  have  as- 
sured the  writer  that  at  similar  gatherings  the  mention 
of  Father  McKenna  stirred  the  audience  so  visibly 
that  they  feared  it  would  lead  to  noisy  applause  in  the 
house  of  God. 

Still  another  extraordinary  manifestation  of  the  high 
regard  in  which  the  distinguished  religious  was  held, 


266  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

and  similar  to  that  given  at  the  centennial  celebration 
of  the  diocese  of  New  York,  occurred  at  the  funeral 
of  Archbishop  Ryan  of  Philadelphia,  Thursday,  Feb- 
ruary 16,  1911.  Archbishops,  bishops  and  noted 
clergymen  from  all  parts  of  the  country  attended  the 
obsequies  of  that  great  prelate.  The  clerical  proces- 
sion which  marched  from  the  archiepiscopal  residence 
to  the  cathedral,  halted  for  a  time  in  Logan  Square  in 
front  of  the  doors  of  the  stately  edifice.  There  the 
hierarchy  noticed  the  presence  of  Father  McKenna, 
and  to  a  man  they  left  their  places  to  speak  to  the  >* 
venerable  apostle  of  God  and  to  wish  him  many  years 
in  the  service  of  the  Divine  Master. 

To  many,  such  tokens  of  esteem  might  have  been  the 
occasion  of  no  little  pride.  But  the  humble  religious, 
although  he  would  not  have  been  quite  human  had  he  not 
experienced  some  gratification  in  the  realization  of  the 
love  and  esteem  in  which  he  was  held,  referred  all  such 
glory  to  God,  whose  cause  he  ever  sought  to  advance 
rather  than  his  own.  With  him  honor  served  not  as  a 
pretext  to  rest  on  laurels  won,  but  as  an  incentive  to 
further  service. 

Intimately  associated  with  the  gentle  affection  that 
brought  Father  McKenna  so  many  friends  was  his  zeal 
in  fostering  vocations  to  the  priesthood.  Indeed  it 
constitutes  so  striking  a  trait  in  the  good  friar's  life 
and  was  so  conspicuous  an  apostolate  in  his  long  career, 
that  a  biography  of  Father  McKenna  would  neces- 
sarily be  incomplete,  unless  it  devoted  some  pages 
specially  to  his  activity  along  this  line. 

The  missionary  keenly  appreciated  the  great  and 
far-reaching  good  a  priest  may  accomplish  by  wisely 
fostering  sacerdotal  vocations.  He  realized  that  many 


FRIENDSHIPS  AND  VOCATIONS.  267 

vocations  are  lost  to  the  Church  from  lack  of  encour- 
agement— that  an  ambassador  of  Christ  who  does  not 
exert  himself  to  bring  worthy  successors  into  the  service 
of  the  ministry,  is  neglectful  of  one  of  the  first  duties 
belonging  to  his  divine  calling.  Father  McKenna  was 
wont  to  compare  such  a  one  to  the  barren  tree  of  the 
Scriptures  that  bore  no  fruit.  His  inborn  affection 
for  boys  and  young  men  was  of  great  aid  to  him  in 
the  exercise  of  this  fruitful  apostolate.  It  drew  them 
to  him,  bound  them  to  him  in  a  most  intimate  way, 
while  it  gave  him  an  insight  that  often  enabled  him  to 
detect  a  vocation  where  one  was  least  suspected. 

This  trait,  characteristic  of  the  great  missionary  even 
in  the  early  days  of  his  priestly  career,  became  more 
and  more  pronounced  as  the  years  rolled  by  until  en- 
couragement of  vocations  became  a  passion  with  him. 
But  it  was  a  passion  that  was  guided  by  wisdom  and 
prudence.  A  most  worthy  minister  himself,  he  could 
not  bear  the  idea  of  the  unworthy  administering  the 
sacred  things  of  God.  And  while,  as  the  years  in- 
creased his  experience,  he  perhaps  grew  milder  and 
more  indulgent  in  his  judgment  of  men,  he  became 
more  and  more  careful  and  exacting  in  his  selection  of 
those  whom  he  deemed  suitable  to  guide  the  souls  of 
others. 

For  some  reason  Father  McKenna  appeared  to  be 
convinced  that  the  most  promising  material  for  the 
priesthood  was  to  be  found  among  the  sons  of  those 
whose  circumstances  compelled  them  to  labor  and  to 
economize.  Thus,  although  he  never  hesitated  to  foster 
any  vocation  which  seemed  to  give  promise,  it  was 
among  the  laboring  classes  that  he  expected  the  most 
generous  response  to  the  call  divine.  With  young  men 


268  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

of  this  class,  too,  he  apparently  took  more  pains,  aid- 
ing them  with  greater  zeal.  His  own  early  life  prob- 
ably caused  him  to  feel  more  keenly  for  the  poor. 
The  trials  and  disappointments  of  his  youth,  which  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  make  known  to  those  whose  voca- 
tions he  sought  to  foster,  were  assuredly  calculated  to 
encourage  the  poor  aspirant  to  the  priestly  office,  or 
to  give  him  strength  and  determination  to  persevere 
in  the  face  of  difficulties.  Doubtless,  many  a  worthy 
Catholic  clergyman  in  the  United  States  owes  the  at- 
tainment of  his  heart's  highest  aspirations  to  the  stim- 
ulation given  him  by  the  missionary's  heroic  early  life. 

Father  McKenna's  earliest  missionary  labors  brought 
him  into  frequent  contact  with  splendid  young  men 
who  were  ardently  desirous  of  entering  the  priesthood, 
but  were  kept  back  by  their  meager  education  and  the 
lack  of  means  to  surmount  this  difficulty.  Knowing 
as  he  did  the  great  need  of  harvesters  in  the  Lord's 
vineyard,  the  zealous  priest's  soul  was  torn  at  the 
sight  of  numerous  vocations  thus  lost  to  the  Church 
no  less  than  at  the  idea  of  many  pure  hearts  being  sub- 
jected to  the  sorrows  which  he  himself  had  experienced 
in  his  youth.  Accordingly,  he  determined  with  the 
permission  of  his  superiors  to  contrive  some  means  of 
giving  aid  to  as  many  as  possible  of  the  most  deserv- 
ing candidates  who  entrusted  him  with  their  secret. 
Indeed,  he  would  willingly  have  devoted  himself  ex- 
clusively to  the  work  of  assisting  those  unable  to  do 
for  themselves,  for  he  believed  that  in  this  way  much 
might  be  done  both  to  extend  "the  Kingdom  of  God 
on  earth  "  and  to  garner  souls  for  heaven. 

Father  McKenna's  gentleness,  zeal  and  holiness 
brought  to  him  people  from  every  walk  of  life  for 


FRIENDSHIPS  AND  VOCATIONS.  269 

consultation  or  advice  on  affairs  of  the  soul,  among 
them  many  persons  of  means.  More  than  one  of  these, 
he  felt,  would  readily  extend  the  hand  of  help  to 
young  men  whose  pecuniary  circumstances  closed  for 
them  the  door  to  the  priesthood.  To  others,  who 
sought  for  advice  regarding  the  distribution  of  their 
charity,  he  suggested  its  direction  towards  this  worthy 
object. 

The  holy  man's  next  step  was  to  seek  permission 
from  his  superiors  to  accept  and  to  use  money  for 
the  purpose  of  preparing  worthy  boys  for  the  priest- 
hood, for  without  such  authorization  he  could  do  noth- 
ing in  the  cause,  noble  though  it  was.  Permission 
granted,  he  began  at  once  to  use  the  confidence  and 
good-will  that  people  reposed  in  him  to  secure  means 
for  the  education  of  poor  boys  and  young  men  for  the 
clerical  state.  In  this,  as  in  all  his  undertakings,  he 
met  with  conspicuous  success.  And  no  wonder,  for 
the  blessing  of  God  was  on  everything  he  did  and 
everything  he  said.  On  the  one  hand,  the  evidences 
of  his  interior  piety  were  such  that  they  removed  from 
his  friends  and  admirers  all  suspicion  of  unworthy  mo- 
tive or  selfish  interest  on  his  part;  on  the  other,  his 
deep  sympathy  and  fatherly  manner  laid  low  all  bar- 
riers of  timidity  or  reserve  on  the  part  of  youths  with 
sacerdotal  aspirations,  bringing  them  to  him  in  num- 
bers. 

Suiting  the  action  to  the  thought,  Father  McKenna 
sought  to  advance  the  holy  cause  in  various  ways.  At 
times  he  persuaded  one  or  more  charitable  persons  to 
defray  the  expense  of  a  classical  education  for  some 
individual  young  man,  which  they  could  do  either  by 
paying  the  college  directly  for  his  board  and  tuition, 


270  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

or  by  remittances  to  the  friar  himself.  At  times  he 
accepted  a  sum  of  money — oftener  small  than  large — , 
or  a  yearly  contribution,  to  be  used  in  his  good  work 
at  his  own  discretion.  In  order  to  aid  a  greater  num- 
ber, if  a  student  was  able  to  pay  a  part  of  his  expenses, 
Father  McKenna  insisted  that  he  do  so.  Again,  he 
strongly  urged  those  whom  he  had  assisted  in  the  at- 
tainment of  their  hearts'  desire  in  the  secular  priest- 
hood not  to  forget  to  do  unto  other  worthy  young  men 
what  had  been  done  for  them  in  their  day  of  need. 
Not  infrequently  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  knowing 
that  his  advice  was  heeded. 

It  speaks  well  for  Father  McKenna's  practical  wis- 
dom that  he  limited  the  period  of  assistance  to  his 
proteges  to  their  classical  course;  that  is,  to  the  time 
when  they  should  be  prepared  for  entrance  into  the 
seminary  or  into  the  novitiate  of  a  religious  order. 
After  that  he  knew  they  would  be  accepted  wherever 
they  made  application.  By  this  plan  he  was  enabled 
to  husband  the  means  at  his  disposal  and  to  extend 
help  to  a  greater  number.  And  in  all  these  ministra- 
tions of  charity  the  holy  friar  was  not  less  careful  to 
guard  his  own  humility,  and  the  feelings  of  those  he 
thus  aided,  from  publicity  than  he  was  to  protect  his 
conscience  by  permission  from  his  superiors  to  use 
money  even  for  so  holy  a  purpose.  So,  too,  he  sought 
to  let  one  hand  know  as  little  as  possible  of  the  good 
that  was  done  by  the  other. 

One  might  fancy  that  Father  McKenna's  simplicity, 
trustful  nature  and  tenderness  of  heart  would  have 
caused  him  frequently  to  be  deceived  or  imposed  upon. 
But  not  so.  He  was  endowed  with  a  practical  mind, 
and  possessed  a  keen  insight  that  guided  his  judgment. 


FRIENDSHIPS  AND  VOCATIONS.  271 

We  do  not,  of  course,  pretend  to  say  that  he  made  no 
mistakes.  Had  he  made  none,  he  would  have  been 
more  than  human.  But  we  do  say  that,  supernatural 
man  that  he  was,  putting  his  trust  in  God  rather  than 
in  himself,  his  errors  were  few,  considering  the  number 
of  cases  he  had  to  decide — fewer,  perhaps,  than  would 
have  been  made  by  those  who  depend  solely  upon 
human  wisdom. 

Father  McKenna's  charity  was  too  broad  to  be  con- 
fined to  his  own  religious  organization.  It  was  so 
broad  that  it  may  be  said  to  have  known  no  distinction. 
He  believed  that  God,  in  giving  the  vocation,  also  sug- 
gested the  place  or  station  to  which  He  called  the  as- 
pirant. Acting  on  this  belief,  he  never  tried  to  induce 
a  young  man  to  become  a  religious  rather  than  a  secu- 
lar priest,  or  vice  versa,  or  to  enter  one  order  rather 
than  another.  His  one  aim  in  this  apostolate  was  to 
provide  the  vineyard  of  the  Church  with  as  many 
worthy  ministers  as  possible.  He  left  it  to  his  pro- 
teges to  determine,  under  the  suggestion  of  God,  in 
what  sphere  they  wished  to  labor.  Whatever  their  de- 
termination, the  good  missionary,  if  it  lay  in  his  power, 
was  ready  to  extend  a  helping  hand.  Far  from  in- 
fluencing the  choice  of  any  one  in  so  sacred  a  matter, 
he  never  made  even  a  suggestion,  except  at  the  urgent 
request  of  one  who  was  unable  to  decide  for  himself. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  say  how  many  young  men 
were  thus  enabled  by  our  apostle  of  vocations  to  attain 
to  the  priesthood  during  the  forty  and  more  years  that 
he  devoted  to  this  particular  work.  On  one  occasion 
when  the  writer  made  bold  to  ask  him  the  number,  the 
answer  was:  "Perhaps  the  least  said  on  that  subject 
the  better;  but  there  must  have  been  two  hundred  or 


272  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

more."  It  is  to  the  credit  of  his  liberal  spirit  that  the 
greater  number  entered  the  ranks  of  the  diocesan 
clergy.  The  priests  who,  in  this  way,  came  under  the 
great  friar's  influence  are  to  be  found  in  many  of  the 
dioceses  east  of  the  Mississippi  River.  Some  he  sent 
farther  west,  where  the  laborers  were  fewer. 

Besides  those  aided  by  Father  McKenna  in  this 
practical  way,  many  other  clergymen  had  recourse  to 
him  in  the  hour  of  doubt  to  decide  their  vocation. 
Nearly  all  with  whom  he  came  into  such  intimate  con- 
tact— whether  by  spiritual  or  by  financial  assistance — 
became  zealous  and  useful  priests.  Some  of  them 
have  worn  the  mitre ;  others  have  risen  to  distinction  in 
the  literary  and  intellectual  world  or  in  various  fields 
of  ecclesiastical  activity. 

By  a  deliberate  choice,  born  of  the  conviction  that 
there  lay  the  field  where  he  could  effect  the  greater 
good,  Father  McKenna  directed  his  apostolic  labors 
more  to  men  than  to  women.  It  was  in  the  same  spirit 
that  he  gave  more  attention  to  vocations  for  the  priest- 
hood than  to  vocations  for  the  various  sisterhoods. 
Yet,  as  on  the  missions,  so  in  the  direction  of  their 
lives  and  their  vocations  he  did  much  for  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  women.  Many  communities  of  women 
scattered  throughout  the  country  have  to  thank  him 
for  useful  members  sent  to  them.  Thus  while  few,  if 
any,  American  priests  have  been  more  sought  after 
by  the  hierarchy  for  special  missions  to  such  religious 
houses,  not  until  the  day  of  recompense  will  it  be 
known  how  many  young  ladies  sought  the  saintly 
friar's  spiritual  counsel  and  direction  and  were  hap- 
pily guided  by  him  to  "the  better  way." 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

FRUITFUL  LABORS. 
(1896-1900) 

FATHER  McKENNA  was  singularly  blessed  with  a 
buoyant  disposition  that  nothing  could  depress,  re- 
taining a  youthful  spirit  which  made  him  ever  eager 
to  be  at  work.  Thus,  although  he  still  suffered  from 
the  effects  of  his  late  illness  when  he  returned  to 
America,  he  was  anxious,  to  use  his  own  expression, 
"to  be  in  harness  again."  Fortunately,  nature  had 
endowed  him  with  extraordinary  powers  of  recupera- 
tion. This  surely  saved  him  from  another  breakdown, 
for  we  soon  find  him  again  busily  engaged  in  all  man- 
ner of  apostolic  labor.  But  one  cannot  overestimate 
how  much  the  realization  of  the  good  he  was  accom- 
plishing sustained  the  missionary.  This  was  as  a  medi- 
cine that  gave  him  strength  of  both  body  and  soul. 

It  was  not  long,  indeed,  before  Father  McKenna  was 
completely  his  former  self.  His  voice  had  lost  none  of 
its  rich  resonance,  strength  or  flexibility;  his  oratory 
none  of  its  fire  or  power  of  attraction;  his  personality 
none  of  its  charm.  Wherever  he  went,  crowds  con- 
tinued to  flock  to  hear  his  sermons  or  his  lectures- 
hung  breathless  upon  his  eloquent  words.  While  he 
always  met  with  the  most  signal  success  after  his  re- 
turn from  Europe,  perhaps  in  no  place  did  he  receive  a 
warmer  welcome  from  the  people  than  at  Augusta, 
Georgia.  His  efforts  there,  in  view  of  the  peculiar 
circumstances,  deserve  a  special  word. 

19  273 


274  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

The  mission  at  Saint  Patrick's  Church,  Augusta, 
opened  January  26,  1896,  and  created  a  sensation  the 
like  of  which  the  quiet  southern  town  had  perhaps 
never  known  before.  The  interest  of  the  people  was 
aroused  to  such  a  pitch  that  the  inclement  weather 
could  not  dampen  their  ardor.  Protestant  vied  with 
Catholic  in  attending  the  sermons.  In  any  part  of  the 
country  the  presence  of  a  non- Catholic  divine  at  the 
services  of  a  Catholic  mission  is  unusual;  in  the  south 
it  is  extraordinary.  Yet  at  Augusta  nearly  all  the 
ministers  of  the  city  turned  out  evening  after  evening 
f*  to  hear  Father  McKenna  preach.  Nor  was  this  all. 
They  were  so  charmed  with  the  saintly  man's  per- 
sonality, and  so  pleased  with  his  preaching,  that  they 
prayed  for  the  success  of  the  work  in  which  he  was  en- 
gaged. Day  after  day  the  public  press,  especially  the 
Augusta  Chronicle,  gave  a  synopsis  of  his  discourses, 
spoke  of  the  crowds  that  came  to  the  church,  told  of 
how  the  audience  was  spellbound  by  the  eloquent 
Dominican. 

Father  McKenna  was  always  solicitous  to  receive 
suggestions  from  the  clergy  for  whom  he  labored,  with 
regard  to  the  needs  of  their  people.  Possibly,  there- 
fore, it  was  at  the  request  of  the  pastor  of  Augusta 
that  the  sermons  preached  at  this  mission  were  mostly 
of  a  dogmatical  character;  for  the  Rev.  P.  H.  Mc- 
Mahon  writes  twenty  years  later: 

"  It  was  the  greatest  mission  ever  held  here,  and  is  still  used 
as  the  comparison  or  standard  for  all  other  missions.  I  invited 
Very  Rev.  Father  McKenna  to  give  the  mission,  but  before  he 
came,  I  took  care  to  give  him  an  outline  of  conditions  here  and 
of  how  I  thought  he  could  meet  them.  He  followed  my  advice 
and  in  every  way  won  the  attendance  of  the  whole  city,  Catholic 


FRUITFUL  LABORS.  275 

and  Protestant  alike.  Our  services  were  crowded  to  the  doors — 
even  the  space  within  the  sanctuary  was  filled — by  Jew  and 
Protestant  and  Catholic,  whilst  hundreds  were  turned  away.  • 
The  venerable  old  man  never  failed,  and  holding  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church  secure  and  good,  he  so  carefully  handled  the  non- 
Catholic  view-point  that  he  won  them  to  him  as  a  commu- 
nity.  .  .  « 

The  impression  made  upon  his  southern  audiences  by 
the  great  missioner  was  such  that  the  non-Catholics 
joined  with  the  Catholics  in  a  petition  that  he  would 
remain  over  in  Augusta  to  deliver  his  lecture  on  mar- 
riage and  divorce  the  night  after  the  close  of  the 
mission.  Of  the  effect  of  the  lecture  and  how  it  was 
attended  the  Augusta  Chronicle  of  February  4,  1896, 
says: 

"  From  portal  to  altar  rail,  and  even  inside  the  rail  at  the  side 
altars,  at  St.  Patrick's  Church  last  night,  the  crowd  of  interested 
listeners  were  packed  and  jammed.  Those  present  represented 
all  classes  and  creeds  in  the  city.  Seldom  has  an  audience  in 
Augusta  been  more  charmingly  entertained,  or  listened  to  a  more 
forceful  and  graceful  speaker  than  the  one  who  swayed  that 
immense  congregation  on  the  subject  which  is  agitating  the 
public  at  this  time,  *  Marriage  and  its  sometimes  unhappy  con- 
sequence— Divorce.'  ...  It  remained  for  his  audience  to  judge 
what  a  word  painter  the  eminent  speaker  is,  and  how  strongly 
his  appeals  went  to  the  hearts  of  his  hearers.  This,  his  last 
lecture,  will  always  remain  as  a  gem  of  its  kind,  and  those  who 
were  fortunate  enough  to  have  been  present  at  even  one  discourse 
will  only  hope  that  ere  long  this  man  of  God  will  return  to  the 
field  which  he  has  planted  with  so  much  tenderness  and  care." 

The  Augusta  mission  is  not  an  exceptional  illustra- 
tion of  how  the  missionary  could  sway  at  will  even  non- 

*  Letter  of  December  12,  1916. 


276  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Catholics;  but  that  he  could  do  this  in  a  locality  so 
prejudiced  as  Georgia  certainly  shows  that  he  pos- 
sessed great  tact,  as  well  as  rare  oratorical  powers. 
It  was  always  noticed  that  Father  McKenna  even  in 
his  strongest  sermons,  whether  excoriating  sin  or  up- 
holding the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  never  wounded  the 
feelings  of  any  class.  At  Augusta  he  met,  received 
into  the  Third  Order  of  Saint  Dominic  and  formed  a 
lifelong  friendship  with  the  distinguished  writer,  jour- 
nalist and  poet,  James  R.  Randall,  the  author  of 
Maryland,  My  Maryland. 

It  was  perhaps  the  great  missionary's  deep  piety 
and  consuming  charity,  as  much  as  his  eloquence  and 
kindly  disposition,  that  made  so  strong  an  impression 
on  the  non-Catholics  of  the  south  and  elsewhere.  Of 
this  we  have  the  unbiased  and  valuable  testimony  of 
the  well-known  novelist,  Mrs.  Amelia  E.  Barr,  a  Meth- 
odist and  the  daughter  of  a  Methodist  minister.  Mrs. 
Barr,  in  her  autobiography  (D.  Appleton  and  Com- 
pany, 1913,  page  384),  thus  tells  us  of  her  difficulty 
in  preventing  her  daughter  Lilly  from  becoming  a 
Catholic,  and  of  the  influence  that  Father  McKenna's 
life  exercised  on  that  young  lady. 

"At  one  time  it  took  all  my  pleading  and  influence,  and  all 
Dr.  Tyang*s  eloquence  to  keep  her  out  of  a  convent,  and  I  had  a 
year  or  two  of  constant  fear  and  watchfulness.  This  was  the 
year  we  lived  on  Lexington  avenue,  opposite  the  Dominican 
church.  There  was  at  that  time  a  priest  there  called  Father 
McKenna,  a  holy  man  entirely  separate  from  the  world,  night 
and  day  either  before  the  altar  or  among  the  most  miserable  of 
the  living  and  dying;  and  I  think  he  was  her  inspiration.  .  .  ." 

We  have  dwelt  at  length  on  this  southern  mission, 
not  because  it  stands  apart  in  the  missioner's  labors 


FRUITFUL  LABORS.  277 

at  that  time,  but  because  it  was  an  apt  sample  at  hand 
of  the  success  that  everywhere  attended  his  labors 
through  all  1896  and  1897.  Naturally  the  interest  of 
the  people  in  places  where  he  appeared  for  the  first 
time  was  keener  and  the  comments  of  the  press  longer 
and  more  eulogistic;  yet,  however  often  he  returned  to 
a  church  or  a  city,  he  was  sure  to  draw  immense 
audiences.  If  this  is  a  proof  of  exceptional  oratory, 
as  we  think  it  is,  then  the  zealous  Dominican  must  go 
down  in  history  as  one  of  the  country's  foremost  pulpit 
speakers. 

As  has  been  stated,  one  of  the  principal  objects  of 
Father  McKenna's  journey  to  Rome  in  1895  was  to 
make  an  appeal  in  person  for  the  revocation  or  the 
modification  of  the  Constitution  ec  Quaecumque "  of 
Clement  VIII,  issued,  December  8,  1604,  which  for- 
bade the  existence  of  the  Rosary  or  the  Holy  Name 
Society  in  more  than  one  church  in  any  city.  Return- 
ing from  Augusta,  the  missionary  continued  his  apos- 
tolate  through  the  north  and  east  with  little  thought  of 
hearing  from  Rome  so  promptly.  But  some  time  in 
the  summer  of  1896  he  received  a  copy  of  a  rescript 
of  the  Congregation  of  Indulgences,  dated  May  20, 
containing  the  information  that  Leo  XIII  had  so  far 
dispensed  with  the  Clementine  Constitution  as  to  leave 
the  establishment  of  the  Rosary  and  the  Holy  Name 
practically  in  the  hands  of  the  hierarchy.  The  good 
news  gladdened  Father  McKenna's  heart,  and  his  joy 
must  have  been  all  the  greater  because  of  the  realiza- 
tion that  it  was  largely  through  his  efforts  that  the 
dispensation  had  been  granted. 

Father  McKenna  was  now  in  his  sixty-second  year, 
and  felt  that  his  services  on  the  missions  might  be  dis- 


278  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

pensed  with  and  believed  that  he  could  be  the  instru- 
ment of  greater  good  by  consecrating  his  remaining 
years  solely  to  the  propaganda  of  the  Rosary  Confra- 
ternity and  the  Holy  Name  Society.  Accordingly,  he 
wrote  Father  Higgins  for  permission  to  give  up  the 
missions  and  devote  himself  to  these  societies.  But  the 
time  was  not  yet  ripe  for  his  purpose.  While  the 
reply  he  received  refused  his  request,  it  was  most 
kindly  and  contained  as  great  a  tribute  as  the  most 
faithful  priest  could  reasonably  desire.  We  give  the 
document  in  its  entirety,  because  it  shows  both  the 
esteem  in  which  Father  McKenna  was  held  by  his 
provincial  and  the  difficulties  he  had  to  overcome  in 
procuring  a  modification  of  the  Clementine  Constitu- 
tion. 

"  ST.  MARY'S  OF  THE  SPRINGS, 

"  Sept.  26th,  1896. 
"Dear  Father  McKenna: 

"Many  thanks  for  the  'Intentions.'  They  will  be  said  at 
once.  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  that  your  health  is  keeping  up 
so  well.  I  pray  God  fervently  that  He  will  spare  you  long  to 
work  for  Him  in  whatever  service  pleases  Him  best.  Just  as 
yet  I  cannot  bring  myself  to  look  favorably  on  any  project  that 
would  separate  you  from  our  missions.  You  have  made  our 
missions  what  they  are.  Your  name  insures  to  them  esteem  and 
respectability  and  fruitfulness.  They  would  suffer  greatly  in 
the  appreciation  of  the  secular  clergy  and  of  the  Bishops,  if  it 
were  understood  that  you  are  no  longer  connected  with  them. 

"  Again,  the  establishment  of  the  Rosary  Society  is  under  so 
many  restrictions,  and  is  hampered  by  so  much  red  tape,  that  the 
prospect  of  spreading  the  devotion  is  most  discouraging.  The 
Master  General  writes  me  that  we  are  not  a  privileged  Province. 
In  each  single  case  we  must  write  to  Rome  for  faculties  to  estab- 
lish the  Rosary  Confraternity.  In  each  single  case  the  name  of 


FRUITFUL  LABORS.  279 

the  priest  and  of  the  parish  must  be  sent  to  Rome.  In  each 
single  case  the  name  of  the  priest  who  is  to  preach  the  sermon, 
or  should  he  be  impeded,  the  name  of  his  substitute  must  be  sent 
to  Rome.  These  formalities  and  embarrassments  will  have  the 
effect  of  killing  the  devotion. 

"  I  have  written  an  urgent  letter  begging  the  Master  General 
to  obtain  for  us  such  faculties  as  some  privileged  Provinces  in 
the  Order  enjoy,  and  such  as  we  used  to  enjoy.  But  I  have  little 
hope  of  a  favorable  answer.  Indeed,  the  Master  General  inti- 
mates that  the  Prefect  of  the  Congregation  supra  indulgentiis 
has  refused  such  a  favor  in  anticipation.  Under  such  circum- 
stances there  is  little  encouragement  to  undertake  the  preaching 
of  the  Rosary.  With  all  the  difficulties  that  are  now  thrown  in 
the  way  of  establishing  a  Rosary  confraternity  in  any  parish,  I 
can  hardly  understand  how  you  would  go  about  the  work  of  your 
mission  at  all.  Faculties  are  no  longer  given  in  globo  and  albo, 
with  permission  to  write  the  name  of  the  parish  and  of  the  priest ; 
but  in  each  single  instance  you  must  go  through  all  the  formali- 
ties and  undergo  all  the  delays  that  I  have  explained.  As  it 
seems  to  me,  the  new  legislation  has  dealt  a  death-blow  to  the 
devotion  of  the  Most  Holy  Rosary. 

"  I  am  very  sorry  to  put  any  obstacle  in  the  way  of  what  you 
have  at  heart,  but  feel  sure  that  under  the  circumstances  you  will 
recognize  it  as  an  impossibility  to  put  in  operation  the  mission 
to  which  you  are  anxious  to  devote  the  last  years  of  your  life. 
Believe  me  that  I  love  you  and  reverence  you  with  all  my  heart. 
And  if  what  you  propose  did  not  seem  so  utterly  impracticable, 
I  should  hesitate  very  much  to  refuse  your  project  my  approval 
and  sanction. 

"With  much  love,  yours, 

"A.  V.  HlGGINS,  O.P." 

The  provincial  evidently  speaks  of  a  correspondence 
with  Father  Friihwirth,  the  General  of  the  Domin- 
icans, at  a  date  prior  to  the  issuance  of  the  sacred  con- 
gregation's rescript.  Neither  had  he  seen  the  rescript, 


280  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

which  did  not  appear  in  the  American  Ecclesiastical 
Review  until  November.  Besides,  Father  Higgins, 
probably  owing  to  the  haste  with  which  the  General's 
and  Father  McKenna's  letters  were  perused  and  his 
own  written,  falls  into  some  minor  errors.  He  as- 
sumes, for  instance,  that  the  missionary  wished  to  de- 
vote all  his  energies  to  preaching  the  Rosary,  whereas 
the  saintly  apostle  requested  to  be  allowed  to  give  him- 
self up  to  the  propaganda  of  the  Rosary  Confraternity 
conjointly  with  that  of  the  society  of  the  Holy  Name. 
Again,  the  apparent  assertion  that  the  province  had 
formerly  enjoyed  the  privilege  of  establishing  the 
Rosary  anywhere,  with  no  other  obligation  than  that  of 
reporting  to  Rome,  is  not  quite  correct.  The  privilege 
— and  this  applies  to  the  Holy  Name  also — was  re- 
stricted to  places  where  the  society  did  not  exist.  It 
did  not  permit  the  institution  or  the  existence  of  either 
society  in  more  than  one  parish  in  a  city  without  an 
appeal  to  Rome  in  each  instance.  The  precise  point 
at  issue  was  an  authorization  to  erect,  without  such  an 
appeal,  both  confraternities  in  as  many  churches  of 
any  city  as  might  desire  to  have  them.  This,  indeed, 
was  what  Father  McKenna  and  others  had  long 
sought  to  procure,  and  what  the  Congregation  of  In- 
dulgences was  so  loath  to  give.  That  a  favor  so  bene- 
ficial to  the  apostolates  of  the  Rosary  and  the  Holy 
Name  was  finally  granted  was  due,  it  is  said,  in  no 
small  measure  to  the  personal  pleading  of  the  saintly 
missionary  before  the  General  of  the  Dominicans  and 
Leo  XIII.  The  reluctance  on  the  part  of  the  prefect 
of  the  Congregation  of  Indulgences  to  depart  from  the 
Constitution  of  Clement  VIII  can  be  seen  from  Father 
Higgins'  letter,  and  appears  to  be  shown  by  the  tone 
of  the  rescript  of  the  sacred  congregation  itself. 


FRUITFUL  LABORS.  281 

Obedient  religious  that  he  was,  Father  McKenna 
gracefully  bowed  to  the  voice  of  authority,  and  con- 
tinued his  labors  as  a  missionary.  At  first  we  find  him 
plying  his  vocation  of  winning  souls  to  God  in  the  east; 
but  the  impression  that  he  had  created  at  Augusta, 
Georgia,  brought  him  so  many  calls  from  various 
places  in  the  south  that  he  spent  there  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  following  year. 

The  month  of  January,  for  instance,  was  mostly 
spent  giving  missions  in  Memphis,  Tennessee,  and 
Charleston,  South  Carolina.  From  Charleston  he 
went  to  Augusta  to  fulfill  his  promise  given  the  year 
before  to  the  pastor  and  people  of  that  city  to  deliver 
a  course  of  doctrinal  lectures  he  had  already  delivered 
in  many  places.  His  subjects  on  this  occasion  were: 
"  Christian  Union,  or  God  our  Father  " ;  "  The  Divinity 
of  Christ";  "Faith";  "The  Power  of  Priests  to  For- 
give Sins";  "The  Infallibility  of  the  Church";  and 
"The  Divine  Motherhood  of  Mary."  The  reception 
given  him  was  not  less  cordial  than  the  one  he  had  re- 
ceived there  in  1896;  the  sensation  created  not  less  pro- 
nounced. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  year  Father  McKenna  was 
requested  to  deliver  a  sermon  on  a  subject  that  was 
unusual  to  him.  The  occasion  was  the  consecration  of 
the  Right  Rev.  James  E.  Quigley  as  bishop  of  Buf- 
falo, which  took  place  in  the  cathedral  of  that  city, 
February  24,  1897.  As  Bishop  Quigley's  invitation 
was  not  received  by  the  missionary  until  shortly  before 
the  event,  and  as  he  was  busily  engaged,  he  had  little 
time  for  preparation.  Yet  his  distinguished  audience 
and  his  new  friend  in  the  hierarchy  were  greatly  pleased 
with  the  discourse. 


282  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

It  has  frequently  been  asserted  that  the  late  arch- 
bishop of  Chicago  was  in  the  seminary  when  he  first 
met  Father  McKenna,  and  served  his  mass  at  the  time ; 
that  after  the  mass  the  distinguished  missionary  said 
to  the  pious  student :  '*  My  dear  young  man,  some  day 
you  will  be  a  bishop  " ;  that  the  seminarian's  reply  was : 
"Well,  father,  if  I  do,  I  want  you  to  preach  the  ser- 
mon at  my  consecration";  and  that  this  banter  or 
prophecy,  whichever  it  was,  led  to  the  celebrated  mis- 
sionary's being  requested  to  deliver  the  discourse  of 
which  we  have  spoken.  However  this  may  be,  there 
are  so  many  authenticated  instances  of  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  foretelling  young  men  or  young  ladies  their 
vocation  for  the  priesthood  or  the  cloister,  although 
they  had  not  thought  of  such  a  thing  before,  that  one 
is  almost  constrained  to  believe  that  he  was  at  times 
endowed  with  a  foresight  that  is  given  but  to  few. 

Father  McKenna  had  long  suffered  from  a  serious 
ailment  of  the  stomach  brought  on  by  excess  of  labor, 
nervous  strain  and  the  continual  change  of  diet  inci- 
dent to  his  mode  of  life.  Shortly  after  his  return  from 
Europe,  however,  he  obtained  a  prescription  from  a 
noted  specialist  in  New  York  which  gave  him  not  only 
great  relief,  but  apparently  new  strength  and  new  en- 
ergy to  continue  his  work.  As  usual,  his  attention 
was  not  confined  to  the  apostolate  of  the  missions. 
His  charity,  which  was  as  broad  as  his  faith,  extended 
to  and  sought  to  aid  everything  that  tended  to  mag- 
nify the  glory  of  God,  to  advance  the  cause  of  the 
Church  or  to  further  the  spiritual  interests  of  men. 
Like  another  Paul,  he  journeyed  up  and  down,  back 
and  forth,  through  the  country,  becoming  all  things  to 
all  men  that  he  might  win  all  for  Christ.  But  here 


FRUITFUL  LABORS.  283 

we  cannot  do  better  than  let  the  Very  Rev.  L.  F. 
Kearney,  who  was  elected  provincial,  October,  1897, 
and  thereafter  labored  much  with  Father  McKenna  on 
the  missions,  tell  of  the  holy  man's  zeal  and  labors. 

"Sr.  THOMAS'  CHURCH,  ZANESVILLE,  OHIO, 

"February  20,  1917. 
"Dear  Father: 

"  I  am  pleased  to  learn  that  you  are  preparing  a  sketch  of  the 
life  and  labors  of  Father  McKenna.  If  I  can  in  any  way  be  of 
assistance  to  you  in  your  work,  you  have  but  to  call  upon  my 
services ;  but  I  fancy  I  can  give  you  no  facts  of  his  public  career 
which  you  do  not  already  possess.  It  gives  me  pleasure,  how- 
ever, to  bear  witness  to  his  wonderful  apostolic  spirit,  of  which 
I  had  so  many  evidences  during  the  twelve  years  of  my  provin- 
cialship.  During  the  first  years  of  that  period  I  often  won- 
dered how,  in  spite  of  his  advanced  age,  he  could  stand  so  much 
work.  His  zeal  was  unquenchable ;  and  he  retained  all  that  fire 
and  animation,  when  in  the  pulpit,  which  had  led  the  people  from 
the  beginning  to  regard  him  as  possessing  a  gift  akin  to  divine 
inspiration.  I  was  frequently  associated  with  him  in  the  work 
of  the  missions  and  was  impressed  with  the  manner  in  which  his 
fervid  eloquence  swayed  his  audiences.  Later  on — in  the  early 
years  of  the  present  century — ,  as  his  strength  began  to  fail  so 
that  he  could  not  endure  the  continued  strain  of  the  missions,  it 
was  suggested  that  he  retire  from  active  duty  and  enjoy  the 
rest  from  labor  which  he  had  so  well  earned.  His  zeal  for  God's 
glory  and  his  love  of  souls  would  not  permit  him  to  accept  this 
suggestion,  and  he  begged  to  be  allowed  at  least  to  continue  at 
his  work  of  establishing  the  Confraternity  of  the  Rosary  and  the 
Holy  Name  Society  that  he  might  devote  his  declining  days  to 
the  furtherance  of  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls 
through  these  two  devotions  which  were  dear  to  his  heart.  The 
request,  which  was  just  what  one  would  expect  of  Father  Mc- 
Kenna, because  so  characteristic  of  his  zeal  and  piety,  was 
granted.  We  all,  of  course,  know  of  the  wonderful  things  he 


284  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

accomplished  through  the  two  societies  in  the  last  years  of  his 
life.  .  Some  time  after  he  began  to  devote  himself  almost  exclu- 
sively to  this  work,  he  told  me  that,  while  he  was  resigned  to 
God's  holy  will,  he  prayed  that  he  might  be  granted  health  and 
strength  to  glorify  the  Holy  Name  and  to  spread  devotion  to  the 
Queen  of  the  Rosary  for  a  long  time  to  come.  His  prayer  was 
granted.  It  is  given  to  but  few  to  labor  so  strenuously  for  so 
long  a  period  in  the  vineyard  of  the  Master. 

"  A  truly  great  apostle  was  Father  McKenna,  a  man  who  has 
exerted  an  influence  of  the  highest  kind  upon  numberless  souls 
in  our  country,  one  who  has  shed  lustre  upon  the  Dominican 
province  of  St.  Joseph — '  Vir  apostolici  pectoris,  magmis  anir 
marum  oeconomus,  ornamentum  et  decus  Ordwis.' 

"  Wishing  you  every  success  in  your  labors,  I  am, 

"Yours  sincerely  in  Christ  and  St.  Dominic, 

"L.  F.  KEAKNEY,  O.P." 

Father  Kearney's  labors  with  the  venerable  mis- 
sionary began  in  Philadelphia,  to  whose  Church  he  had 
given  much  of  his  time  from  1890.  Of  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  labors  and  popularity  there  the  reader  may 
judge  from  the  subjoined  letters  of  the  Most  Rev. 
Edmond  F.  Prendergast  and  the  Right  Rev.  Philip  R. 
McDevitt  of  Harrisburg,  the  former  of  whom  was 
auxiliary  bishop  at  the  time  of  which  we  write,  and  the 
latter  pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Nativity. 

"  AECHBISHOP'S  HOUSE, 

"  March  15,  1917. 
"  Very  Rev.  and  dear  Father: 

"I  have  known  and  esteemed  good,  holy  Father  Charles  H. 
McKenna,  O.P.,  for  many  years,  and  I  wish  to  express  my  un- 
qualified admiration  for  his  many  virtues,  for  his  priestly  zeal 
and  deportment,  and  for  his  extraordinary  powers  as  a  preacher 
of  the  Word  of  God.  My  acquaintance  with  and  high  regard 
for  him  began  with  a  mission  which  he  conducted  in  St.  Mai- 


FRUITFUL  LABORS.  285 

achy's  parish,  Philadelphia,  some  forty  years  ago.  I  remem- 
ber well  how  he  held  the  great  audience,  filling  every  part  of 
the  church,  spell-bound  and  fascinated  from  the  moment  he 
appeared  on  the  altar  until  the  close  of  the  sermon.  His  spir- 
itual countenance,  his  impressive,  dignified  figure,  clothed  in  the 
white  robes  of  his  Order,  his  manner  of  clothing  his  thoughts, 
his  graceful  and  most  forcible  gesticulation  and  a  resonant  voice 
that  could  be  heard  distinctly  in  every  part  of  the  edifice — all 
combined  to  bring  home  to  the  assembled  congregation  the  sub- 
lime truths  of  religion.  His  language  was  simple  and  easily 
understood,  not  a  word  being  lost  to  his  hearers.  He  was  to  me 
the  ideal  missionary — eloquent,  powerful  to  move  the  minds  of 
his  audience  and  possessed  of  that  unction  which  made  his  words 
direct  messages  from  the  Holy  Spirit. 

"All  this  I  know  of  one  of  his  early  missions  in  this  diocese. 
And  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying,  both  because  of  what  I  have 
seen  and  experienced  myself  and  because  of  what  I  have 
heard  from  others,  that  his  labors  during  the  long  years  he 
remained  on  the  missionary  band  were  equally  successful  not  only 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  but  in  almost  every  part  of  the  coun- 
try. With  me  personally  the  impression  which  he  made  at  the 
time  we  first  met,  has  grown  with  two-score  years.  In  your 
memorial,  no  doubt,  some  account  will  be  given  of  his  career,  of 
the  number  of  missions  he  conducted  throughout  the  country, 
of  the  priestly  virtues  which  characterized  him,  of  his  benign 
influence  as  the  Apostle  of  the  Holy  Name  Society,  of  his  labors 
in  the  cause  of  the  Rosary  and  devotion  to  our  Blessed  Lady, 
and  of  other  fruits  of  his  zeal.  May  he  be  remembered  in  the 
prayers  of  the  thousands  who  benefited  by  his  extraordinary 
gifts — both  of  those  who  are  now  in  heaven,  and  of  those  who 
are  still  on  earth — and  have  to  thank  God  for  the  graces  they 
received  through  the  saintly  Dominican  in  his  long  and  glorious 
life  as  a  priest  and  missionary. 

"Yours  sincerely  in  Christ, 

"E.  F.  PEENDERGAST, 
"  Archbishop  of  Philadelphia." 


286  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Bishop  McDevitt,  writing  to  Rev.  Bernard  A.  Mc- 
Kenna  of  the  Catholic  University,  March  24,  1917, 
says  in  the  same  connection : 

"My  admiration  and  reverence  for  saintly  Father  McKenna 
began  about  thirty  years  ago,  at  the  time  he  was  giving  the  first 
of  four  successive  missions  at  the  Church  of  the  Nativity, 
B.V.M.  Perhaps  the  following  comment,  made  after  the  close 
of  the  fourth  mission,  in  1897,  and  published  in  the  parish  cal- 
endar, is  more  truly  appreciative  of  his  impressive  personality 
than  any  words  I  might  write  at  present.  'Our  people  should 
ever  hold  in  benediction  the  memory  of  Father  McKenna,  the 
masterful  spirit  of  the  Dominican  missions,  and  the  greatest 
missionary  of  this  generation.  During  the  past  ten  years  his 
zeal  and  eloquence  have  inspired  them  with  the  love  of  higher 
and  better  things.  The  blessings  which  the  Nativity  parish 
has  enjoyed,  has  been  granted  to  countless  parishes  the  country 
over.  We  trust  the  day  is  far  distant  when  Father  McKenna's 
eloquent  voice  will  cease  to  exercise  its  marvelous  power  for  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls.'  Happily,  providence 
made  that  day  far  distant  which  marked  the  fruition  of  a  life 
certainly  unsurpassed  in  the  annals  of  missionary  labors  in  the 
United  States." 

The  letters  of  these  two  distinguished  prelates  ex- 
press the  mind  of  the  clergy  generally  for  whom 
Father  McKenna  labored  in  the  long  course  of  his 
apostolic  life.  It  was  principally  during  the  period  ex- 
tending from  the  fall  of  1897  to  that  of  1900 — a  period 
in  which  the  fathers  of  the  province  gave  many  great 
missions — that  Father  Kearney  came  into  such  close 
contact  with  the  earnest  apostle  and  witnessed  the 
effect  of  the  zeal  of  which  he  has  told  us.  Buoyed  up 
by  his  fervor,  in  spite  of  his  more  than  three-score 
years,  Father  McKenna  was  perhaps  the  only  one  who 


FRUITFUL  LABORS.  287 

failed  to  notice  the  extraordinary  phenomenon  of  his 
labors. 

We  shall  not,  of  course,  attempt  to  follow  the  holy 
man  to  all  the  places  he  went  at  this  time  in  his  harvest 
of  souls.  To  do  so  would  only  tire  the  reader  with  a 
repetition  of  what  has  already  been  told,  perhaps  too 
often;  and  to  mention  the  names  of  states,  cities, 
towns  and  churches  with  which  he  has  become  familiar 
in  the  course  of  these  pages,  would  not  add  to  the  in- 
terest of  our  narrative.  Suffice  it,  then,  to  say  that 
we  have  found  mention  of  nearly  forty  missions  in 
which  Father  McKenna  took  part  during  these  three 
years.  Some  of  them  extended  over  three  or  four 
weeks.  All  entailed  much  hard  labor  and  long  hours 
in  the  confessional,  but  the  grand  old  man  was  able  to 
take  his  turn  with  his  co-laborers,  though  they  were 
all  younger  than  he.  Wherever  he  went,  his  zeal  and 
his  eloquence  were  the  cause  of  keen  joy  to  both  pastors 
and  people. 

But  a  few  of  the  spiritual  revivals  in  which  the  aged 
missioner  took  part  during  the  present  period  seem  to 
demand  a  word.  The  first  of  these  was  a  mission  given 
at  Saint  Mary's,  Baltimore,  in  October,  1897.  It  was 
here  that  Messrs.  John  T.  Morris  and  Walter  E. 
McCann,  dramatic  editors  respectively  of  the  Balti- 
more Sun  and  the  Evening  News,  went  to  hear  the 
noted  preacher.  Both  pronounced  him  one  of  the  best 
orators  they  had  ever  heard,  and  declared  that  in  the 
vocation  of  Father  McKenna  the  Church's  pulpit  had 
been  benefited  at  the  expense  of  the  stage.  Under 
the  caption  of  "A  Dramatic  Scene",  Mr.  McCann 
wrote  his  impressions  of  the  closing  sermon  of  the 
mission  which  appeared  in  the  Catholic  Mirror  and 


288  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

was  thence  widely  copied  by  the  Catholic  press  of  the 
country.2 

The  mission  at  Saint  Mary's  was  followed,  early  in 
1898,  by  others  not  less  noteworthy  in  Atlanta  and  at 
the  cathedrals  of  Charleston  and  Boston.  Perhaps, 
indeed,  there  was  no  priest  in  the  country  who  could 
have  produced  a  stronger  impression  than  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  on  the  minds  of  the  people  in  the  south,  where 
the  Church,  proportionately  speaking,  has  made  less 
progress  than  in  any  other  section  of  the  United  States. 
It  has  been  seen  that  rarely  did  the  missionary's 
preaching  fail  to  cause  the  return  of  many  wayward 
Catholics.  The  mission  at  Atlanta,  in  January,  1898, 
was  a  striking  example  of  this.  Among  those  in  this 
city  whom  he  was  the  instrument  in  bringing  back  to 
the  practice  of  their  religion  was  a  noted  statesman 
and  former  judge.  This  man,  although  a  devout 
Catholic  in  his  younger  days,  had  given  up  his  Church, 
and  all  efforts  by  others  to  induce  him  to  return  had 
proved  fruitless.  His  conversion  by  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  was  considered  by  many  as  miraculous. 

A  mission  similar  in  results  and  enthusiasm  to  that 
in  Atlanta  was  one  he  conducted  at  Saint  Gabriel's, 
Hazelton,  Pennsylvania,  in  October,  the  same  year,  and 
which  appears  to  be  the  last  he  preached  in  the  mining 
towns  of  that  state.  Father  McKenna  was  extremely 
popular  with  the  large  mining  population  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  did  some  of  his  most  effective  work  among 
them.  It  was  his  custom,  when  laboring  in  these 
towns,  to  station  himself  after  an  early  mass  along  the 
roads  that  led  to  the  mines  and  to  give  a  cordial  greet- 
ing to  the  passing  workmen  whom  he  judged  to  be 

*  The  Catholic  Mirror,  November  6,  1897. 


FRUITFUL  LABORS.  289 

Catholics.  In  many  instances  the  missionary's  simple 
words  made  so  strong  an  impression  upon  the  miners 
that  they  later  laid  down  their  tools  and  returned  to 
make  the  mission.  Finally,  the  mission  he  conducted 
in  the  cathedral  of  Baltimore,  May,  1899,  was  con- 
sidered one  of  the  most  successful  ever  given  in  Mary- 
land's metropolis.  The  writer  has  heard  Cardinal 
Gibbons  say  that  he  thought  he  had  never  heard  the 
Word  of  God  preached  with  more  telling  force  than 
on  that  occasion.  In  spite  of  the  many  years  that  have 
passed,  the  memory  of  this  mission  is  still  vivid  in 
Baltimore. 

In  this  way  the  zealous  gleaner  of  souls  went  from 
place  to  place,  even  to  Montreal  and  Halifax,  in  the 
fulfillment  of  his  vocation.  He  was  the  type  of  man 
to  whom  the  sinner  would  instinctively  appeal  as  the 
physician  to  cure  the  ills  of  his  soul.  While  the  holy 
man's  eloquent  preaching,  ascetic  countenance  and  win- 
some ways  doubtless  had  much  to  do  in  bringing  many 
of  his  hearers  to  confession,  the  lasting  success  of  his 
missions,  we  think,  was  due  still  more  to  the  irresistible 
fatherly  advice  he  gave  in  the  sacred  tribunal.  It  was, 
indeed,  an  inspiration  to  younger  clergymen  to  see  one 
of  Father  McKenna's  advanced  years  devote  so  many 
hours  to  the  drudgery  of  the  confessional.  And  this 
he  did  not  only  with  patience,  but  with  a  devotion  and 
a  fidelity  which  all  were  forced  to  admire.  How 
many  souls  Father  McKenna  thus  healed  and  solaced 
or  helped  to  a  still  higher  and  better  life,  is  known 
only  to  the  Creator. 

As  the  hard-working  Dominican  devoted  much  of 
the  summers  of  this  period  to  retreats,  his  vacations 
were  few  and  brief.  But  we  shall  mention  only  the  re- 

20 


290  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

treat  he  gave  to  the  clergy  of  the  diocese  of  Fort 
Wayne  at  Notre  Dame  University — his  second  there — 
in  July,  1889.  A  thorough  religious  and  holy  priest 
himself,  Father  McKenna  was  always  much  at  home 
when  conducting  such  spirtual  exercises  for  those  of  his 
own  state  of  life.  His  retreats  at  Notre  Dame  are 
still  remembered  and  regarded  as  among  the  best  ever 
given  at  that  noble  institution. 

But  Father  McKenna's  zeal  as  a  churchman  did  not 
cause  him  to  neglect  his  obligations  as  a  patriotic  citi- 
zen. Although  he  always  retained  a  deep  affection 
for  his  native  land,  our  friar  missionary  was  most  de- 
voted to  his  adopted  country,  loving  its  institutions  and 
its  spirt  of  liberty  and  equality.  No  sooner  had  he 
attained  the  age  of  manhood  than  he  procured  his 
papers  of  naturalization,  and  thenceforth  took  the 
keenest  interest  in  all  that  regarded  the  welfare  of  the 
great  American  republic.  He  did  not,  however,  align 
himself  with  any  political  party,  or  give  his  vote  to  a 
candidate  for  office  because  he  belonged  to  any  par- 
ticular organization.  In  affairs  of  state,  as  in  all 
things  else,  the  earnest  Dominican  studied  men  and 
the  questions  at  issue,  and  voted  for  those  from  whose 
honesty  and  ability  he  judged  more  might  be  expected 
for  the  good  of  the  commonwealth.  Though  not  often, 
we  find  him  at  times  speaking  (at  the  request  of  others) 
on  issues  in  which  the  public  was  interested.  In  these 
patriotic  discourses  the  noted  orator  gave  scarcely  less 
satisfaction  to  his  audiences  than  in  his  sermons  and 
lectures.  Through  all  his  long  priestly  career,  even 
in  the  fulfillment  of  his  duties  as  a  minister  of  the 
Gospel,  he  sought  to  inculcate  the  cultivation  of  every 
civic  virtue. 


FRUITFUL  LABORS.  291 

Father  McKenna's  knowledge  of  history  and  his  ex- 
perience, during  his  years  as  a  clerical  student  and 
young  priest,  had  taught  him  the  horrors  of  war.  It 
was,  therefore,  a  shock  to  the  aged  servant  of  God 
when  the  present  internecine  strife  broke  out  in  Europe, 
and  he  prayed  with  his  whole  soul  that  the  beloved 
country  of  his  adoption  might  not  be  drawn  into  the 
gigantic  struggle.  Indeed,  although  they  stood  in  the 
background  of  his  active  life,  Father  McKenna's 
staunch  civic  virtues  were  as  a  complement  rounding 
out  and  perfecting  a  noble  character.  Possibly,  the 
fruits  of  his  example  and  principles  in  this  respect 
were  not  the  least  of  his  extraordinary  life. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

DIRECTOR  OF  THE  ROSARY  AND  HOLY  NAME 
SOCIETIES. 

(1900-1906) 

NOT  even  the  most  conscientious  biographer,  believ- 
ing ever  so  strongly  in  the  rigidly  chronological  order, 
would  now,  we  think,  undertake  to  follow  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  minutely  in  his  travels.  To  have  so  sketched 
the  celebrated  missionary  up  to  this  point  in  his  life, 
would  have  been  most  difficult ;  to  do  so  from  this  time 
on  were  impossible.  For  many  years  in  the  past,  as 
the  reader  has  doubtless  noticed,  he  rarely  spent  so 
much  as  a  month  in  the  same  town  or  city.  Beginning 
with  this  period,  he  does  not  often  remain  a  full  week 
at  the  same  church;  frequently,  indeed,  we  find  him 
dividing  his  time  between  two  or  more  places  within 
so  brief  a  space. 

Father  McKenna  was  now  to  experience  the  truth 
of  the  Scriptural  adage  which  tells  us  that  "  the  obedi- 
ent man  shall  speak  of  victory,"  as  well  as  to  realize 
the  wisdom  of  the  ancient  proverb,  "  all  things  come  to 
him  who  waits  in  patience."  In  September,  1900,  he 
opened  the  missionary  season  with  his  accustomed  zest. 
But  little  more  than  five  weeks  had  passed,  when  his 
heart  was  rejoiced  by  the  information  that  his  earnest 
prayer  had  at  last  been  heard  and  that  he  had  been 
appointed  by  his  provincial  director  of  the  Rosary 
Confraternity  and  Holy  Name  Society,  with  full  per- 
mission to  devote  his  boundless  energy  to  their  propa- 

292 


DIRECTOR  OF  THE  ROSARY  AND  HOLY  NAME.   293 

gation.  To  prepare  the  way  for  the  more  effectual 
furthering  of  these  two  apostolates  which  he  could  now 
claim  as  particularly  his  own,  Father  McKenna  at 
once  used  the  Catholic  press  to  address  the  following 
letter  of  notification  to  the  pastors  of  the  country. 

"ADDKESS  TO  PASTORS  IN  CHARGE  OF  MISSIONS." 

"  Rev.  Dear  Father: — As  you  are  aware,  a  great  stimulus  has 
in  our  day  been  given  to  '  The  Salutary  Devotion  of  the  Rosary ' 
by  the  earnest  words  of  our  Holy  Father  Leo  XIII.  He  ranks 
it  first  among  the  devotions  to  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God,  and 
builds  on  it  all  his  hopes  for  the  triumphs  of  the  Church.  Hence 
his  great  desire  is  to  see  this  devotion  more  deeply  and  more 
tenderly  cherished  by  all  the  faithful.  With  a  view  to  this  end, 
for  several  years  he  has  renewed  his  efforts  through  his  ency- 
clicals to  the  Patriarchs,  Primates,  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of 
the  Catholic  world,  urging  greater  devotion  to  the  cherished 
Rosary.  Permit  me  to  quote  from  his  encyclical  of  1883. 

"'Our  need  of  divine  help  is  not  less  to-day  than  when  the 
great  Dominic  preached  the  Rosary  as  a  remedy  to  heal  the 
wounds  of  Christendom.  Divinely  enlightened,  he  saw  that  no 
remedy  could  be  better  adapted  to  the  evils  of  his  time  than  that 
men  should  by  frequent  meditation  on  the  salvation  obtained  for 
us  by  Christ  return  to  Him  who  is  "  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life,"  and  that  they  should  seek  the  help  of  God  through  His 
Virgin  Mother,  "  to  whom  it  is  given  to  destroy  all  heresy."  To 
effect  this  he  so  composed  the  Rosary  as  to  recall  to  mind  the 
mysteries  of  our  salvation  in  their  chronological  order.  He 
combined,  as  it  were,  and  interlaced  the  subjects  to  be  meditated 
upon  with  the  Angelic  Salutation  and  the  prayer  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  to  God  the  Father.  We  who  seek  a  remedy  for  like 
evils,  do  not  doubt  that  the  prayer  introduced  by  the  most  holy 
man  with  so  much  benefit  to  the  Catholic  world  of  his  day  will 
have  the  greatest  power  against  the  calamities  of  our  times  also.' 

"  The  words  of  the  Holy  Father  have  a  special  significance  for 


294  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

the  children  of  St.  Dominic,  to  whom,  as  he  says,  this  devotion 
belongs  by  a  kind  of  right.  In  an  audience  granted  to  the  Su- 
perior of  our  Order  he  said :  *  As  the  promotion  of  this  salutary 
work  of  piety  among  the  faithful  has  been  committed  to  the 
religious  of  your  Order  by  your  holy  Founder,  let  them  institute 
the  Rosary  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  everywhere,  and  propa- 
gate and  cultivate  it  with  zeal,  that  through  their  assiduous  care 
the  people  may  be  enrolled  in  this  holy  militia  in  which  the  en- 
sign is  the  banner  of  the  Rosary.'  In  answer,  then,  to  the  desire 
and  command  of  His  Holiness,  the  Very  Rev.  Provincial  of  our 
province  has  assigned  to  me  the  pleasing  task  of  erecting  the 
Confraternity  of  the  Rosary  and  of  establishing  the  Living 
Rosary  in  all  churches  whose  pastors  may  desire  to  have  either 
of  these  devotions  instituted.  And  it  is  my  cherished  hope  that 
the  remaining  portion  of  my  life  may  be  spent  in  these  apos- 
tolates. 

"  To  facilitate  the  good  work,  as  well  as  to  lessen  loss  of  time 
and  travelling  expenses,  pastors  who  desire  the  establishment  of 
the  Confraternity  of  the  Rosary,  the  Holy  Name  Society  or  the 
Living  Rosary  in  their  churches  are  requested  to  make  their 
wishes  known  to  me,  so  that  I  may  visit  them  and  establish  any 
of  the  above  confraternities  in  the  churches  of  the  same  city  or 
district  at  the  same  time.  In  case  any  of  the  above  societies  has 
already  been  canonically  established  in  your  parish,  I  shall  be 
happy  to  assist  you  in  increasing  its  membership.  With  much 
respect,  I  am  yours  in  Christ. 

"  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P., 

"  869  Lexington  Avenue,  New  York  City." 

While  Father  McKenna  had  long  been  engaged  in 
the  propagation  of  the  apostolates  of  the  Rosary  and 
the  Holy  Name,  his  appointment  as  their  director  gen- 
eral in  all  the  country  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains 
may  be  said  to  mark  a  new  era  in  his  career.  Although 
it  came  at  an  age  in  life  when  most  men  seek  to  rest 
from  their  labors,  it  prepared  the  way  for  fourteen 


DIRECTOR  OF  THE  ROSARY  AND  HOLY  NAME.   295 

years  more  of  extraordinarily  fruitful  labors.  The 
great  missionary  was  not  less  keenly  interested  in  the 
cause  of  the  Holy  Name  than  in  that  of  the  Rosary. 
If  he  was  more  emphatic  in  announcing  his  appoint- 
ment as  moderator  of  the  latter  society,  this  was  be- 
cause the  Rosary  was  then  in  greater  favor  with  both 
people  and  clergy — owing,  perhaps,  to  the  earnest  ap- 
peals of  Leo  XIII,  whose  many  encyclicals  in  behalf 
of  this  devotion  to  the  Mother  of  God  not  only  aided 
its  propagation,  but  caused  him  to  be  called  the  "  Pope 
of  the  Rosary."  Father  McKenna  took  the  greatest 
delight  in  these  encyclical  letters  of  Leo,  and  never 
failed  to  use  them  as  a  means  of  advancing  the  cause 
of  the  Rosary  in  the  United  States.  Indeed,  they 
were  the  subject  of  many  of  his  most  eloquent  sermons 
and  lectures.  And  with  his  keen  spiritual  discern- 
ment, he  knew  how  to  make  devotion  to  the  Rosary 
serve  as  a  means  of  propagating  the  Holy  Name  So- 
ciety, destined  later  to  obtain  so  strong  a  hold  on  the 
Catholic  men  of  America.  This  he  did  by  preaching 
also  the  Holy  Name  wherever  he  was  called  to  preach 
the  Rosary. 

The  first  church  at  which  Father  McKenna  estab- 
lished his  two  cherished  religious  societies  after  their 
charge  had  been  specially  entrusted  to  him  by  his 
Order,  was  Saint  Edward's,  Philadelphia;  the  date  of 
their  establishment,  October  21,  1900.  For  this  rea- 
son and  also  because  it  marks  a  new  era  in  the  growth 
of  the  Rosary  and  the  Holy  Name  confraternities  in 
the  United  States,  we  reproduce  the  account  of  these 
services  as  given  in  the  diocesan  paper. 

"  At  St.  Edward's  on  last  Sunday  [says  the  Catholic  Standard 
and  Times  of  October  27,  1900]  Rev.  C.  H.  McKenna,  O.P.,  the 


296  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

well  known  missionary,  erected  the  Confraternity  of  the  Rosary 
and  established  a  Holy  Name  Society.  The  exercises  were  of  a 
beautiful  and  impressive  character.  Father  McKenna  ad- 
dressed the  congregation  at  all  the  Masses,  except  the  first,  and 
at  the  last  Mass  he  preached  a  sermon.  After  this  Mass  the 
joyful  mysteries  of  the  Rosary  were  recited,  Rev.  M.  J.  Scully 
leading  in  the  recital.  At  the  erection  of  the  Rosary  Society 
in  a  parish  the  entire  Rosary  must  be  recited.  The  confra- 
ternity was  erected  in  the  afternoon,  on  which  occasion  the 
church  was  crowded.  About  700  members,  men,  women  and 
children,  were  enrolled.  The  sorrowful  mysteries  were  then  re- 
cited. The  choir  sang  the  *  Veni  Creator.'  Father  McKenna 
delivered  a  sermon  on  the  devotion.  The  'Salve  Regma'  was 
then  sung.  Benediction  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  was  given  by 
Father  Scully,  and  the  exercises  closed  with  the  *  Te  Deum.' 
In  the  evening  the  men  and  boys  of  the  parish  to  the  number  of 
five  hundred  and  fifty  joined  the  Holy  Name  Society.  The  ex- 
ercises began  with  the  five  glorious  mysteries  of  the  Rosary. 
Father  McKenna  delivered  a  sermon  on  the  *  Holy  Name,'  after 
which  the  society  was  organized.  The  choir  sang  *  Jesu  Mi,' 
and  the  services  closed  with  benediction  of  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment by  Father  Scully." 

Those  who  knew  Father  McKenna  or  ever  heard 
him  preach,  may  readily  imagine  the  impression  pro- 
duced on  the  minds  of  the  people  by  exercises  such 
as  those  described  by  the  Catholic  Standard  and  Times. 
The  editor  of  that  paper  is  in  error,  however,  when  he 
states  that  the  fifteen  mysteries  of  the  Rosary  must  be 
recited  in  church  on  the  day  of  the  confraternity's  es- 
tablishment in  a  new  place.  Yet  this  was  generally 
done  by  the  society's  director  both  that  the  piety  of  a 
congregation  might  be  quickened  and  that  their  prayers 
might  bring  greater  blessings  upon  the  new  society. 
The  scene  at  Saint  Edward's  was  but  a  sample  of  hun- 


DIRECTOR  OF  THE  ROSARY  AND  HOLY  NAME.   297 

dreds  of  others  that  followed  one  another  in  rapid  suc- 
cession through  the  nearly  a  decade  and  a  half  of  active 
labor  that  remained  to  the  holy  friar.  Indeed,  no 
period  of  Father  McKenna's  life  was  more  productive 
of  good  than  that  extending  from  1900  to  1914 — a 
fitting  conclusion  to  a  long  apostolate  that  had  been 
singularly  fertile  from  its  beginning. 

As  soon  as  he  received  this  special  appointment  to 
propagate  and  guide  the  Rosary  Confraternity  and  the 
Holy  Name  Society  in  Saint  Joseph's  Province,  the 
humble  religious  wrote  the  Most  Rev.  Andrew  Friih- 
wirth,  who  was  then  the  Order's  Master  General,  to 
acquaint  him  of  the  fact  and  to  ask  any  suggestions  he 
might  wish  to  make  with  regard  to  the  propaganda  of 
the  sodalities.  In  reply  the  missionary  received  a 
letter  from  Rome,  dated  November  23,  1900,  con- 
gratulating him  on  the  honor  that  had  been  shown  him 
and  wishing  him  every  success  in  his  ministry. 

The  zealous  priest's  next  step  was  to  obtain  from 
Cardinal  Gibbons  and  other  members  of  the  hierarchy, 
whose  dioceses  had  been  the  most  frequent  fields  of  his 
labors,  a  general  permission  to  establish  the  Rosary 
Confraternity  and  the  Holy  Name  Society  for  all 
pastors  of  their  dioceses  who  should  desire  them.  A 
little  later  he  addressed  the  following  letter  for  a  simi- 
lar liberty  to  such  of  our  prelates  as  he  had  not  previ- 
ously approached. 

"Most  Rev.  dear  Archbishop  [or  Right  Rev.  dear  Bishop]  : — 
Some  time  ago  I  was  appointed  by  my  Provincial  to  secure  Ro- 
sary and  Holy  Name  diplomas  for  pastors  who  should  desire  one 
or  both  of  these  Confraternities  established  in  their  churches,  and 
who  had  previously  obtained  the  consent  of  the  Ordinary.  With 
a  view  to  prevent  delays  and  minimize  trouble,  I  humbly  beg  you, 


298  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

if  it  seems  well,  to  grant  to  the  pastors  of  your  diocese  who  may 
desire  it,  a  general  permission  for  the  establishment  of  those  Con- 
fraternities such  as  has  been  granted  by  His  Eminence  Cardinal 
Gibbons,  my  own  Archbishop,  and  by  several  of  the  Archbishops 
and  Bishops  of  the  country.  I  beg  you  also  to  dispense  with 
the  Clementine  Decree  forbidding  more  than  one  Confraternity 
of  the  same  kind  in  the  same  city  or  town.  By  a  Rescript  of 
the  Holy  Father,  dated  May  20th,  1896,  all  Ordinaries  have 
power  to  grant,  over  their  signature,  such  a  formal  permission 
and  dispensation.  If,  then,  you  will  kindly  do  this,  I  shall  feel 
at  liberty,  without  further  delay,  to  assure  the  pastors  of  your 
diocese  that  they  have  full  authority  for  the  erection  of  the  above 
Confraternities . 

"  Your  humble  and  obedient  servant, 

"  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P., 

"Apostolate  of  the  Rosary,  869  Lexington 
Avenue,  New  York  City." 

The  promptness  with  which  the  hierarchy  of  the 
country  responded  to  his  letter  and  the  readiness  with 
which  they  endorsed  his  cause  must  have  gladdened 
Father  McKenna's  heart.  Few  there  were  who  did 
not  reply  to  the  holy  man's  appeal ;  nor  was  it  long  be- 
fore these  became  enthusiastic  supporters  of  his  apos- 
tolate.  Good  Bishop  Harkins  annexed  to  his  appro- 
bation the  words:  "Permission  granted  also  to  all 
priests  subject  to  our  authority  to  apply  for  faculties 
to  attach  Dominican  indulgences  to  beads." 

Among  the  first  prelates  to  whom  the  missionary 
sent  his  letters  of  appeal  for  a  general  permission  to 
establish  the  Rosary  Confraternity  and  Holy  Name 
Society  were  Archbishop  Corrigan  of  New  York  and 
Bishop  Wigger  of  Newark.  From  his  earliest  years 
in  the  episcopacy  the  archbishop  had  been  a  warm  sup- 
porter of  both  societies.  For  this  reason,  we  are  at  a 


DIRECTOR  OF  THE  ROSARY  AND  HOLY  NAME.  299 

loss  to  understand  why  he  omits  the  Holy  Name  So- 
ciety in  his  approval,  unless  it  was  an  oversight,  or 
that  under  the  influence  of  the  diocesan  union  estab- 
lished in  his  metropolitan  see  some  twenty  years  before, 
the  society  already  existed  in  practically  all  the 
churches  of  his  diocese.  In  all  other  respects  his  letter 
and  that  of  Bishop  Wigger  are  identical.  Both  pre- 
lates showed  their  confidence  in  the  saintly  Domin- 
ican and  their  hearty  approval  of  his  apostolate  by  em- 
powering him  to  sign  their  names  to  all  letters  neces- 
sary for  its  prosecution  in  their  dioceses. 

Father  McKenna's  letter  of  appeal  to  the  hierarchy 
and  their  earliest  replies  indicate  that  the  Rosary  still 
enjoyed  a  wider  favor  than  the  Holy  Name.  But 
under  the  influence  and  advocacy  of  the  venerable 
Dominican,  who  was  now  free  to  devote  his  time  to 
preaching  its  cause,  coupled  with  the  gradual  realiza- 
tion by  all  of  the  power  for  good  which  it  exercised 
over  Catholic  men,  the  Holy  Name  Society  rapidly 
grew  in  numbers  as  well  as  in  the  esteem  of  the  hier- 
archy, clergy  and  people.  At  first,  the  misionary  had 
often  to  take  advantage  of  his  invitations  to  establish 
the  Rosary  Confraternity  to  preach  the  merits  of  the 
Holy  Name  Society.  It  was  not  long,  however,  be- 
fore it  was  frequently  necessary  to  reverse  this  method, 
and  to  use  the  Holy  Name  devotion  as  a  means  of  fur- 
thering that  of  the  Rosary.  With  impartial  zeal  he 
labored  with  all  his  might  for  the  promotion  of  both 
societies  to  the  end  that  he  might  win  souls  for  heaven. 

The  more  effectually  to  further  interest  in  the  great 
society  for  men,  the  missionary  sought  to  second  his 
apostolic  preaching  in  its  behalf  by  addresses  to  the 
public  through  the  medium  of  the  Catholic  press.  Be- 


300  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

ginning  with  1903  and  continuing  for  some  years,  he 
issued  annually  a  pamphlet  on  the  merits  and  purpose 
of  the  Holy  Name  Society  and  the  good  accruing  from 
it,  which  he  sent  broadcast  to  the  pastors  within  the 
sphere  of  his  activity.  In  this  brochure  he  incorpor- 
ated many  of  the  letters  he  had  received  from  the  hier- 
archy and  noted  clergymen  showing  their  approval  of 
the  confraternity,  together  with  instructions  on  how  to 
make  it  a  success  in  a  parish.  This  modest  advertising 
Father  McKenna  always  felt  played  an  important  part 
in  the  wonderful  growth  which  now  began  to  manifest 
itself  in  the  society. 

From  among  the  many  letters  in  praise  of  the  Holy 
Name  Society  the  new  director  received  from  the  hier- 
archy about  this  time,  we  select  two  of  which  we  often 
heard  him  speak  as  being  the  source  of  much  consola- 
tion and  encouragement  in  his  work.  The  first,  from 
the  late  saintly  archbishop  of  Cincinnati,  reads: 

"  ST.  PETEE'S  CATHEDRAL,  CINCINNATI,  OHIO, 

"July  17,  1904. 
"  Rev.  C.  H.  McKenna,  O.P.,  New  York  City : 

"  Rev.  dear  Father  McKenna : — God  be  praised  for  the  insti- 
tution and  propagation  of  the  Society  of  the  Holy  Name,  and 
for  the  publication  of  the  prayer  book  of  the  Holy  Name.  Both 
the  society  and  the  prayer  book  have  been  found  a  most  service- 
able means  for  correcting  the  shameful  practice  of  using  pro- 
fane language,  so  offensive  to  God's  honor  and  so  degrading  to 
men.  I  believe  that  every  pastor  who  will  take  pains  to  estab- 
lish the  society  will  find  it  a  great  help  in  all  his  labors  for  sanc- 
tifying the  souls  under  his  care,  particularly  by  helping  men  to 
frequent  the  Sacraments  and  attend  at  Holy  Mass.  I  recom- 
mend it  to  all  the  Rev.  Pastors  in  the  diocese  of  Cincinnati. 
"  Your  servant  in  Christ, 

"  WILLIAM  HENRY  ELDER, 
"Archbishop  of  Cmcinnati." 


DIRECTOR  OF  THE  ROSARY  AND  HOLY  NAME.   301 

In  the  other  communication,  whose  date  we  have 
been  unable  to  find,  the  present  distinguished  ordinary 
of  Wheeling  thus  tells  the  apostle  what  he  thinks  of 
the  Holy  Name  Society: 

"The  Holy  Name  Society  was  established  in  the  Cathedral, 
Wheeling,  in  the  year  1897.  Since  that  period  it  has  steadily 
grown  in  numbers  and  in  usefulness,  being  a  power  unto  piety 
and  edification  throughout  the  congregation.  It  has  brought 
pastor  and  flock  into  closer  relations,  stimulated  the  frequenta- 
tion  of  the  Sacraments,  and  tended  much  to  the  suppression  of 
profanity  and  kindred  vices.  One  of  the  most  inspiring  spec- 
tacles of  the  whole  year  is  the  gathering  of  the  devout  throng 
of  some  seven  or  eight  hundred  of  the  men  of  the  parish,  reciting 
the  office,  and  at  intervals  lifting  up  their  voices  in  sacred  hymns. 
It  is  only  exceeded  by  the  crowds  of  men  communicants  who 
approach  the  Holy  Table  on  the  appointed  days.  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  writing  that  the  establishment  of  the  Holy  Name 
Society  has  been  a  great  blessing  to  the  parish  and  to  the  indi- 
vidual souls  of  the  members.  May  God  bless  your  efforts  in 
establishing  such  organizations  as  the  crowning  work  of  a  life 
spent  in  the  service  of  the  Lord. 

"  Faithfully  yours  in  Christ, 

"P.  J.  DONOHUE, 

"Bishop  of  Wheeling." 

Although  the  years  from  1900  to  1906  were  cer- 
tainly among  the  most  important  in  Father  McKenna's 
life,  we  cannot  attempt  to  give  his  labors  at  this  time 
in  detail.  To  do  so  would  require  almost  a  volume  in 
itself.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  wisdom  of  his  appoint- 
ment as  director  of  the  Rosary  and  the  Holy  Name 
societies  soon  became  apparent.  It  was  a  work  for 
which  he  had  a  special  aptitude — a  grace  and  a  zeal 
that  were  heaven-given  and  heaven-blessed.  With  his 
selection  to  take  charge  of  their  propagation  began  the 


302  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

phenomenal  development  of  both  confraternities — of 
that  of  the  Holy  Name  in  particular.  Great  as  had 
been  his  labors  on  the  missions  for  thirty  years,  they 
were  not  more  single-hearted  or  richer  in  results  than 
were  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Rosary  Confraternity 
and  the  Holy  Name  Society  at  this  period. 

Father  McKenna  knew  well  the  dramatic  art  and 
every  artifice  of  oratory.  Some  considered  that  in 
vocal  wealth  he  was  the  equal  of  Booth;  that  he  pos- 
sessed the  dramatic  power  of  McCullough  and  the  elo- 
cutionary excellence  of  Murdock.  But  he  ever 
preached  as  the  pulpit  orator,  refusing  to  convert  the 
church  into  the  stage.  Although  he  always  spoke  from 
the  heart,  he  knew  well  how  to  keep  his  voice,  as  his 
emotions,  under  a  master's  control.  This  gave  his  de- 
livery one  of  its  principal  charms — perfect  naturalness. 
Possibly  we  have  had  no  American  preacher  who  pos- 
sessed a  more  perfect  command  over  the  souls  of  his 
audience.  While  his  language  was  generally  simple 
and  direct,  at  times  his  rolling  periods  reminded  one 
of  the  old  masters  of  English.  Seldom  did  he  seek  to 
move  his  hearers  to  smiles,  which  he  thought  unworthy 
of  the  house  of  prayer,  but  often  he  drew  tears  even 
from  the  eyes  of  hardened  men.  At  times,  also,  when 
carried  away  with  the  thought  of  the  heinousness  of 
sin  against  the  Creator  or  of  the  blessedness  of  divine 
love,  the  holy  man  of  God  himself  wept.  But  there 
was  never  a  suggestion  of  the  weak  or  sentimental  in 
his  tears;  they  were  the  genuine  tears  of  a  strong, 
virile  man,  than  which  nothing  is  more  touching.  All 
these  talents  the  apostle  of  piety  had  devoted  unspar- 
ingly to  the  salvation  of  souls  during  his  long  years 
on  the  missions.  Now,  as  he  had  lost  none  of  his 


DIRECTOR  OF  THE  ROSARY  AND  HOLY  NAME.   303 

zeal  and  still  retained  his  mental  vigor  and  splendid 
voice,  he  gave  them  in  the  same  spirit  and  measure  to 
the  apostolates  of  the  Rosary  and  Holy  Name. 

In  previous  years,  as  has  been  said,  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  stay  at  any  one  church  had  been  from  one  to 
four  weeks,  according  to  the  length  of  his  missions. 
During  the  present  period,  except  when  engaged  in 
missionary  work — as  he  frequently  was — he  rarely  tar- 
ried more  than  a  few  days  in  the  same  locality.  From 
place  to  place  he  went,  establishing  Rosary  and  Holy 
Name  confraternities,  giving  triduums,  delivering  lec- 
tures or  preaching  on  special  occasions.  So  often  had 
he  to  spend  the  night  on  the  train  that  he  grew  to  be 
as  much  at  ease  and  could  sleep  as  well  on  a  moving 
Pullman  car  as  in  a  quiet  bed.  It  was  due  to  his  abil- 
ity to  rest  on  the  train  that  he  was  able  to  travel  so 
ceaselessly  in  the  interests  of  his  cherished  societies. 
One  of  the  greatest  trials  entailed  by  these  endless 
journeys  was  the  inconvenience  to  which  he  was  often 
put  to  say  his  daily  mass — a  sacred  duty  that  he  would 
never  omit,  if  it  could  possibly  be  fulfilled.  No.  diffi- 
culty was  too  great  for  him  to  surmount  that  he  might 
offer  up  the  holy  sacrifice  to  his  Divine  Master  morn- 
ing after  morning.  Thus,  he  would  often  interrupt 
his  journey  at  a  great  sacrifice,  or  fast  until  ten  or 
eleven  o'clock,  that  in  this  way  he  might  satisfy  his  de- 
votion to  his  eucharistic  Lord. 

It  would  be  useless  to  attempt  to  follow  the  zealous 
friar  in  his  multitudinous  travels  during  the  interval 
between  the  fall  of  1900  and  March,  1906;  or  to  name 
the  churches  in  which  he  established  the  societies  of  the 
Rosary  and  the  Holy  Name;  or  to  mention  the  places 
where  he  preached  or  conducted  triduums  to  increase 


304  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

interest  in  pre-existing  confraternities  and  to  enlarge 
their  membership.  He  established  the  Holy  Name 
Society  in  hundreds  of  places  at  this  period,  while  such 
triduums  took  the  part  in  his  life  formerly  taken  by 
the  missions. 

In  addition  to  this  vigorous  apostolate,  much  lec- 
turing, extra  preaching  and  aid  on  the  missions,  Father 
McKenna  never  failed  to  keep  up  his  spirit  and  prac- 
tice of  prayer  and  meditation.  Without  these,  he  felt 
there  could  be  no  personal  sanctity — no  fruit  from  his 
labors,  however  strenuous  or  persevering.  To  God 
alone  he  looked  for  success  and  blessings,  which  he 
believed  came  only  in  answer  to  prayer  and  humble 
petition.  Besides,  he  continued  to  cultivate  his  life- 
long habit  of  study  and  reading,  seeking  to  gather 
even  at  his  advanced  age  new  material  for  his  work, 
to  accumulate  further  knowledge,  to  keep  his  spirit 
young  and  abreast  of  the  times.  When  not  other- 
wise occupied,  he  was  still  sure  to  be  found  with  book 
in  hand.  The  Scriptures,  religious  literature  and  his- 
tory still  remained  his  favorite  subjects.  For  the 
press  other  than  the  Catholic  he  had  little  love,  but  he 
glanced  over  the  leading  papers  each  day  that  he  might 
keep  informed  on  the  topics  that  absorbed  public  at- 
tention. 

Together  with  his  brethren,  Father  McKenna  had 
prepared  the  soil  and  sowed  the  good  seed  in  previous 
years.  Now  he  began  to  reap  a  rich  harvest  from  his 
and  their  painstaking  toils.  The  Rosary  Confraternity 
and  the  Holy  Name  Society  had  been  established  in 
many  churches  throughout  the  land  at  a  prior  date; 
but  with  his  appointment  as  their  director  and  under 
the  magnetic  influence  of  his  burning  zeal  and  untiring 


DIRECTOR  OF  THE  ROSARY  AND  HOLY  NAME.   305 

apostolate,  the  two  societies  not  only  began  to  put  on  a 
new  spiritual  life,  but  to  spring  up  in  rapid  succession 
in  new  places,  to  grow  in  membership,  to  multiply  their 
potency  for  good  in  the  American  Church.  This  was 
particularly  true  of  the  Holy  Name  Society  which 
then  began  to  assume  proportions  among  our  Catholic 
men  such  as  no  other  religious  organization  had  ever 
been  able  to  claim. 

The  holy  priest  made  his  home  at  Saint  Vincent 
Ferrer's,  New  York,  but  so  numerous  were  his  en- 
gagements and  calls  that  rarely  was  he  to  be  found 
at  his  convent — scarcely  ever  on  Sundays.  Oftentimes 
his  absence  extended  into  weeks  or  even  months. 
Albeit  the  earnest  friar  had  passed  the  age  of  three- 
score and  ten  years  before  the  close  of  the  present 
period  of  his  life,  his  appointment  to  the  honorable 
position  of  director  of  the  Rosary  Confraternity  and 
the  Holy  Name  Society  was,  in  a  sense,  the  dawn  of  a 
new  era  for  him.  It  was  an  era  which,  even  though  his 
other  labors  were  forgotten,  would  crown  his  name 
with  an  imperishable  halo  of  glory. 


21 


CHAPTER     XXIII. 
MODEL  PRIEST  AND  MISSIONARY. 

As  Father  McKenna  devoted  little  time  to  the  work 
of  parochial  missions  after  March,  1906,  we  have  now 
arrived  at  a  point  in  his  biography  where,  it  seems  to 
us,  a  special  word  on  his  character  as  a  model  priest 
and  missionary  will  not  be  out  of  place.  Here  again 
we  shall  be  placed  under  the  necessity  of  repeating 
things  that  have  already  been  said;  but  again  we  have 
before  us  one  of  those  excellent  lessons  taught  by  the 
holy  man  that  cannot  be  too  strongly  insisted  upon  or 
too  often  related.  For  as  by  his  deeds  and  virtues  he 
gained  glory  during  life  and  was  praised  in  his  day, 
so  should  his  name  go  down  in  honor  from  generation 
to  generation,  and  his  memory,  like  that  of  the  saints, 
be  held  in  benediction  for  all  time  to  come  because  of 
the  good  he  wrought  and  the  blessings  he  brought  to 
the  people  through  his  ministrations. 

From  the  time  Archbishop  Purcell  of  Cincinnati  ex- 
tended consecrating  hands  over  him,  October  13,  1867, 
the  young  Friar  Preacher  keenly  realized  that  he  was 
an  alter  Christus  (another  Christ)  bound  to  a  life  of 
holiness.  To  few  priests  is  it  given  to  appreciate,  as 
did  Father  McKenna,  the  sacredness  and  the  exalted 
character  of  the  priesthood.  But  this  was  not  all. 
The  young  Dominican  recognized  with  full  discerning 
vision  that  his  vocation  as  a  member  of  the  Order  of 
Saint  Dominic  was  the  active  ministry  of  preaching 
the  word  of  God — teaching  the  people  "the  way,  the 

306 


MODEL  PRIEST  AND  MISSIONARY.  307 

truth  and  the  life";  that  he  was  consecrated  to  the  sal- 
vation of  men ;  that  his  calling  demanded  that  he  should 
be  a  divine  messenger  bearing  to  men  the  gifts  of 
heaven  and  the  blessings  of  the  Church.  And  these 
ministrations  he  gladly  accepted — nay,  treasured — not 
only  because  they  were  angelic,  but  also  because  they 
both  bound  him  in  closer  union  with  Christ  and  en- 
abled him  to  do  more  for  souls.  Furthermore,  he  felt 
that  the  sphere  in  which  God  had  chosen  him  to  labor 
was  the  American  missions. 

For  these  reasons,  from  the  day  of  his  ordination 
Father  McKenna  set  himself  to  copy  the  life  of  the 
Divine  Master  in  his  own — sought  to  acquire  all  those 
virtues  which  should  adorn  the  priesthood.  These  were 
the  thoughts  that  ever  held  mastery  over  his  mind  and 
controlled  his  every  action.  Never  did  he  forget  that 
he  was  a  priest  of  God  or  lose  sight  of  the  dignity  of 
his  station  and  the  sanctity  to  which  it  obligated  him. 
So,  too,  from  the  time  he  completed  his  studies  he  gave 
every  spare  moment  to  preparation  for  preaching  and 
the  work  of  a  missionary.  It  was  a  preparation  that 
ended  not  until  the  infirmities  of  old  age  obliged  the 
man  of  God  to  desist  from  his  apostolic  labors.  Nor 
was  it  limited  to  his  sermons;  it  included  everything 
necessary  to  make  him  a  true  guide  to  men  and  a 
skilful  physician  to  souls. 

It  was  these  unremitting  efforts  to  become  a  true 
priest  of  God  and  a  successful  gleaner  of  souls  through 
the  missions  that  made  Father  McKenna  the  model 
priest  and  missionary  whom  all  loved  and  admired,  and 
worthy  of  the  following  tributes  from  distinguished 
churchmen. 

Cardinal  Gibbons,  who  has  more  than  once  spoken 


308  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

of  Father  McKenna  as  one  of  the  greatest  mission- 
aries ever  produced  by  the  United  States,  writes: 

"Father  McKenna,  the  Dominican,  has  long  been  widely 
known  and  deeply  revered  as  a  saintly  priest  and  eloquent 
preacher.  Perhaps  never  before  him  did  any  priest  in  the 
United  States  do  more  for  God  by  moulding  the  hearts  of  both 
people  and  priests.  In  aspect,  one  fancied  he  stood  before  a 
father  of  the  desert  of  old:  in  discretion,  one  could  believe  him 
indeed  a  blood-relation  of  his  profound  fellow-religious — St. 
Thomas  of  Aquin:  in  earnestness  he  was  a  Lacordaire  or  a 
Savonarola;  yet  in  all  these  sui  generis,  of  his  own  times,  and 
with  a  potent  influence  all  his  own.  From  the  altar  or  the  pulpit 
his  face  and  eyes  were  as  those  of  Moses  coming  down  from  the 
mount — aglow  with  meditated  truth  and  a  message  to  men  burst- 
ing from  his  soul.  A  very  holy  man,  a  man  of  keen  and  constant 
mortification,  of  overflowing  love  for  his  f ellowman  in  their  soul- 
needs,  of  tireless  thought  and  prayer,  Father  McKenna  was  and 
will  long  be  a  model  for  the  Order  of  Preachers,  for  our  Amer- 
ican priests  generally,  for  preachers  in  this  country  and  others."1 

Cardinal  O'Connell,  whose  ecclesiastical  province 
was  one  of  Father  McKenna' s  most  fruitful  fields  of 
labor,  writes: 

"ARCHBISHOP'S  HOUSE,  GEANBY  STREET,  BOSTON, 

"MarchSS,  1917. 
"Dear  Father: 

"I  remember  well  the  first  time  I  met  Father  McKenna.  It 
was  in  1888  at  St.  Joseph's  Church  in  the  west  end  of  Boston 
when  I  was  a  young  curate.  The  Dominican  Fathers  were  giv- 
ing a  mission  to  our  people,  and  the  wonderful  zeal  and  eloquence 
of  Father  McKenna  were  the  dominating  spirit  of  the  whole 
parish  at  the  time.  I  frequently  stood  in  the  rear  of  the  church 
lost  amid  the  crowd  of  intent  listeners  who  seemed  to  hang  upon 

i  Letter  of  February  20,  1917. 


MODEL  PRIEST  AND  MISSIONARY.  309 

his  words,  and  who  were  swayed  by  the  fiery  torrent  of  sublime 
religious  sentiments  which  seemed  to  flow  straight  from  the  pure 
and  consecrated  heart  of  the  holy  man.  As  a  preacher  of  the 
Word  of  God  he  had  undoubtedly  the  highest  qualifications — 
holiness  of  life  and  eloquence  of  speech. 

"At  home  in  the  rectory  he  was  simplicity  itself.  At  table 
he  was  very  agreeable,  but  nevertheless  even  then  he  seemed 
detached,  recollected  and  amiably  serious.  He  was  a  complete 
stranger  to  me,  but  before  the  mission  was  finished  I  had  learned 
to  revere  and  admire  him  both  as  priest  and  man.  And  as  the 
years  went  by  bringing  us  together  in  various  relationships,  that 
reverence  and  admiration  constantly  increased.  He  was  a  true 
son  of  Saint  Dominic,  aflame  with  the  sacred  fire  of  the  love  of 
souls.  God  alone  knows  to  how  many  hundreds  of  thousands  his 
eloquent  word  and  his  holy  example  brought  sanctification  and 
salvation. 

"  Sincerely  yours  in  Xt. 

"  W.  CARDINAL  O'CONNEI/L, 
"Archbishop  of  Boston" 

The  next  two  letters  are  from  two  of  America's 
oldest  and  best  beloved  missionaries — Father  Walter 
Elliott,  the  Paulist,  and  Father  Robert  (McNamara), 
the  Passionist.  Both  often  came  into  contact,  direct  or 
indirect,  with  Father  McKenna,  and  everywhere  they 
were  rejoiced  and  edified  by  the  odor  of  zeal,  sanctity 
and  good  report  he  left  behind  him.  Father  Elliott, 
March  14,  1917,  thus  writes  of  the  distinguished  Do- 
minican : 

"  Of  those  who  rule  men's  souls  with  the  iron  rod  of  penance 
it  is  allotted  to  but  few  never  to  lose  mastery  over  them. 
Father  McKenna  was  one  of  this  superior  kind  of  mission- 
aries. I  rarely  met  him  personally,  for  active  missionaries  do 
not  often  meet;  but  we  constantly  cross  one  another's  tracks. 
And  from  both  priests  and  people  we  heard  spontaneous  praise 


310  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

of  his  remarkable  sway  over  the  hearts  of  wicked  men  and  women. 
In  my  experience  he  was  the  topic  of  conversation  on  many  occa- 
sions, and  always  a  subject  of  admiration  for  his  victories — the 
dearest  of  all  achievements  to  a  missionary's  ambition — over  the 
hard-hearted,  totally  abandoned,  reckless  and  shameless  sinners. 
We  thus  heard  of  him  from  both  priests  and  people,  the  one  class 
under  whose  eyes  he  labored,  the  other  to  whose  hearts  he  spoke. 

"  This  was  the  result  of  his  preaching  rather  than  of  his  hear- 
ing confessions,  though  he  was  an  excellent  father  confessor,  and 
was  the  very  kind  of  a  priest  whom  a  well  nigh  hopeless  wretch 
would  select  for  his  sacramental  confidant,  testing  him  mentally 
as  he  sat  under  the  spell  of  his  gentle  imperiousness  in  the  pulpit. 
All  preachers  know  the  difficulty  of  preaching  God's  justice 
without  lesion  to  His  adorable  mercy.  Father  McKenna's  privi- 
lege it  was  to  succeed  perfectly  in  this ;  his  tone  and  manner  and 
personality  were  truly  the  gift  of  the  Redeemer  he  loved  so  well, 
and  who  pictured  the  day  of  doom  with  His  eyes  yet  dimmed  with 
the  tears  He  shed  over  the  apostate  city  of  Jerusalem.  Father 
McKenna  himself  felt  the  terrors  of  the  divine  wrath  sensibly 
and  manifestly  whilst  he  launched  death,  judgment  and  hell  upon 
the  souls  of  sinners.  And  when  he  preached  God's  mercy  for 
sinners  and  His  Son's  crucifixion  for  them,  his  benignant  form 
and  his  kindly  voice  were  the  medium  of  communicating  a  sweet 
exhaustless  plenty  of  confidence  in  the  divine  pardon. 

"  All  preachers,  missionaries  especially,  know  that  the  make-up 
of  moral  discourses  is  easily  secured  by  assorting  portions  of  the 
great  traditional  store  of  precept  and  illustration;  the  matter 
of  every  mission  sermon  may  be  called  common  property.  But 
the  manner  of  preaching  it  is  one's  own,  and  to  make  it  in  the 
right  manner  is  of  far  greater  difficulty  and  immensely  greater 
importance  than  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  the  matter. 
The  imperishable  remembrance  of  a  sermon  is  due  to  the  over- 
powering religious  attractiveness  of  the  preacher's  own  self. 
This  attractiveness  Father  McKenna  possessed  in  a  very  high 
degree.  Doubtless  this  was  a  gift  of  his  gentle  nature,  to  begin 
with,  for  even  in  ordinary  conversation,  whilst  he  was  the  reverse 


MODEL  PRIEST  AND  MISSIONARY.  311 

of  an  intrusive  talker,  he  yet  won  by  his  kindliness  the  quickest 
attention  and  ready  agreement.  But  it  was  the  missionary 
grace,  it  was  the  vocational  endowment  of  God  appropriate  to 
his  state  of  life — due  also  to  his  deep-hearted  piety — that  gave 
him  his  mighty  persuasiveness  in  addressing  sinners.  I  have  felt 
that  it  is  worthy  of  the  term  I  have  already  given  it — gentle 
imperiousness." 

Father  Robert,  whose  long  and  intimate  friendship 
with  the  noted  Dominican  gives  his  words  additional 
value,  wrote  shortly  before  the  friar's  death: 

"I  am  glad  to  hear  that  you  are  well.  Yes,  indeed,  I  have 
known  dear  Father  McKenna  for  many  years.  Both  of  us  have 
been  on  *  the  firing  line '  longer  perhaps  than  any  other  mission- 
aries in  the  United  States.  We  often  met  in  the  same  city 
giving  missions.  More  frequently,  however,  I  followed  in  the 
footsteps  of  the  'grand  old  man,'  and  always  with  pleasure, 
knowing  that  his  missionary  piety  and  zeal  prepared  the  way 
for  my  apostolic  labors.  In  all  my  travels,  #nd  during  my  stay 
with  priests  or  people,  the  name  of  Father  McKenna,  O.P.,  has 
always  been  spoken  with  the  greatest  respect,  and  the  memory  of 
his  apostolic  labors  recalled  with  veneration.  He  was  loved 
especially  for  his  honest  ways  and  child-like  simplicity ;  but  above 
all  for  his  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  and  his  zeal  for 
the  *  Holy  Rosary '  of  our  Blessed  Virgin  Mother.  He  has  done 
a  great  and  grand  work  in  his  day.  His  beautiful  example  may 
encourage  others  to  walk  in  his  footsteps,  as  a  saintly  missionary 
and  a  true  son  of  St.  Dominic.  God  grant  it  may  be  thus."2 

The  somewhat  lengthy  appreciation  which  we  now 
append  from  the  pen  of  a  distinguished  jurist  and  ex- 
emplary Catholic,  Judge  Morgan  J.  O'Brien  of  New 
York,  presents  a  picture,  not  less  faithful  than  beau- 
tiful, of  the  missionary  as  a  true  priest,  a  man  of  God, 

2  February  18,  1917. 


312  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

a  zealous  apostle,  an  eloquent  orator  and  a  friend  both 
trustful  and  abiding. 

"  The  name  of  Father  Charles  H.  McKenna  must,  indeed,  be 
ever  glorious  and  his  memory  blessed.  For  fifty  years  he  was  en- 
listed in  God's  service,  and  no  priest  in  his  age  and  generation 
did  more  to  promote  His  glory.  Loving  His  Sacred  Name  with 
a  passion  that  absorbed  him,  believing  with  a  living  faith  that 
aught  asked  in  that  Name  would  be  granted,  his  soul  was  filled 
with  anguish  at  the  thought  of  the  ungrateful  men  who  would 
sacrilegiously  profane  it.  Never  content  except  when  preach- 
ing earnestly  and  eloquently  about  His  Love  and  Mercy  for 
man,  in  the  thought  of  Him  he  lived  and  breathed  and  had  his 
being.  Imbued  with  these  thoughts  and  sentiments,  he  worked 
earnestly  and  incessantly  to  promote  a  love  and  veneration  for 
the  Saviour  of  Mankind,  and  justly  deserved  the  title  of  '  Father 
of  the  Holy  Name  Society.'  He  did  not,  however,  limit  his 
life-work,  because  with  equal  fervor  he  venerated  our  Blessed 
Mother  and  continually  spoke  her  praises,  and  in  the  spread  of 
the  devotion  of  the  Rosary  he  had  an  employment  that  was  near 
and  dear  to  him.  Well,  therefore,  might  he  also  be  referred  to 
as  the  *  Apostle  of  the  Rosary.'  Who  that  ever  heard  him  can 
forget  the  great,  towering  figure,  the  ascetic  yet  strong  face 
denoting  piety  and  vigor,  the  well  modulated  voice  and  the 
direct  and  forceful  manner  in  which  he  delivered  God's  message 
to  man?  Full  of  charity,  nothing  could  be  more  effective  than 
his  appeals  for  the  poor.  The  poor,  the  unfortunate,  in  him 
found  a  sympathetic  friend  and  counsellor.  Most  charitable 
and  considerate  for  others,  he  was  most  severe  and  rigid  with 
himself.  The  comfort  and  the  pleasure  which  he  thought  others 
should  enjoy,  he  denied  himself. 

"With  a  fine  mind,  a  strong  will,  and  a  heart  filled  with  gen- 
erous emotions,  these  were  all  consecrated  to  religion  and  human- 
ity. But  among  his  many  distinguishing  traits  and  titles,  the 
one  by  which  he  will  longest  be  remembered  will  be  the  fame  and 
renown  he  secured  and  won  as  the  greatest  missionary  preacher 
of  his  time.  As  a  pulpit  orator  he  had  more  force  and  mag- 


MODEL  PRIEST  AND  MISSIONARY.  313 

netism  than  any  preacher  I  ever  knew  or  heard,  and  by  many 
discriminating  judges  he  was  pronounced  the  greatest  missionary 
that  the  Church  in  this  country  has  produced.  All  the  virtues 
that  he  had  cultivated  through  lif e  and  that  went  to  make  up  his 
splendid  characer  were  present  in  his  preaching.  His  piety,  his 
earnestness,  his  self-denial  and  his  devotion  to  duty  were  im- 
pressed upon  all  who  heard  him.  The  success  of  his  appeal  to 
men  is  demonstrated  by  his  work  in  organizing  the  nation-wide 
movement  of  the  Holy  Name  Society.  To  listen  to  his  sermons 
addressed  to  gatherings  where  thousands  were  assembled  was  a 
rare  privilege,  and,  when  enjoyed,  not  easily  forgotten. 

"  Those  of  us  who  remember  Father  Tom  Burke,  the  Domini- 
can Irish  friar,  whose  matchless  eloquence  focussed  the  attention 
of  the  world  on  the  justice  of  the  claims  of  Ireland  and  advanced 
so  powerfully  the  interests  of  religion,  are  inclined  to  associate 
him  with  Father  McKenna.  There  is  little  in  common  between 
these  two  great  Dominicans  beyond  their  claiming  Ireland  as 
their  birthplace,  and  their  brotherhood  in  the  Order  of  Preach- 
ers, except  that  each  in  his  own  style  as  an  orator  was  masterful. 
In  associating  them,  I  am  not  thinking  of  comparisons,  nor  of 
holding  them  up  for  inspection  as  different  types,  but  rather 
with  the  thought  of  succession.  In  his  day,  and  indeed  for  a 
generation  following,  the  name  of  Father  Tom  Burke  was  a 
household  word  in  the  Catholic  homes  of  the  United  States. 
Father  McKenna  fell  heir  to  his  preacher's  mantle.  For  more 
than  two  score  years  Father  McKenna  filled  important  pulpits  in 
the  Catholic  churches  in  this  country  with  the  greatest  credit 
to  his  Order  and  immeasurable  benefit  to  his  hearers  and  to  the 
Church.  In  this  extraordinarily  long  and  useful  career  as  a 
preacher,  Father  McKenna  gave  an  unrivalled  test  of  endurance 
in  the  arduous  work  of  the  missions  and  in  the  crusade  he  car- 
ried on  for  the  honor  of  the  Holy  Name.  We  of  the  laity  who 
heard  him  in  the  days  of  his  greatest  power,  appreciate  his 
matchless  force.  His  very  appearance  marked  him  as  one  who 
would  espouse  no  cause  but  the  holiest,  and  in  his  case  there  was 
no  deception  in  appearances.  Nature  endowed  him  with  all  of 
the  orator's  gifts,  and  they  were  enhanced  by  holiness  and  sim- 


314  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

plicity.  His  earnestness,  his  determination  to  give  the  best  that 
was  in  him  and  all  he  possessed  to  the  cause  of  God  and  against 
the  forces  of  sin — these  were  dominant  motives  in  his  life.  He 
was  ever  in  the  pulpit  the  dignified  priest,  whether  he  entreated 
his  hearers  to  profit  by  the  mercy  of  God — a  thought  and  sub- 
ject dear  to  him — or  condemned  in  language,  with  a  force  that 
was  crushing,  the  sins  of  men.  He  always,  however,  filled  the 
repentant  sinner  with  the  inspiration  of  hope  and  courage. 

"  I  will  not  attempt  to  say  more  than  a  passing  word  about  the 
friendship  of  this  holy  and  noble  priest  which  it  was  my  privi- 
lege to  enjoy.  Intimacy  and  years  but  increased  admiration. 
His  devotion  and  attention  to  friends  seemed  almost  incredible 
in  an  apostolic  priest  of  his  activity.  In  his  relations  with  lay- 
men his  manner  was  warm  and  intimate,  and  familiarity  with 
him  but  increased  appreciation  and  admiration  of  his  simple 
character  and  prayerful  spirit.  I  knew  him  for  more  than 
thirty  years,  and  valued  his  friendship  as  highly  as  I  admired 
his  wonderful  traits  of  character  and  gifts  of  mind.  .  .  ."3 

To  these  encomiums,  if  time  and  space  permitted, 
might  be  added  innumerable  others  that  have  appeared 
in  our  Catholic  journals  during  the  last  forty  and  more 
years.  Indeed,  a  goodly  volume  might  thus  be  com- 
piled; for  of  few,  if  any,  American  clergymen  has  the 
press  spoken  so  frequently  or  so  eulogistically.  Suffice 
it,  therefore,  to  say  that  during  the  thirty  years  from 
1870  to  1900  Father  McKenna  was  almost  constantly 
engaged  on  the  missions;  and  from  1900  to  1906  we 
often  find  him,  though  not  so  regularly,  giving  the 
best  that  was  in  him  to  this  apostolic  ministry.  How 
many  the  missions  he  gave  in  all  those  years  there  is 
now  no  way  of  knowing.  More  than  once  during  the 
last  decade  of  his  life  we  asked  him  if  he  knew  the 
number.  The  invariable  answer  was  that  he  could  not 
remember  the  precise  number,  but  that  he  thought  he 

«  Letter  of  April  9,  1917. 


MODEL  PRIEST  AND  MISSIONARY.  315 

had  taken  part  in  some  seven  hundred.  Possibly,  in- 
deed, no  American  missionary  has  ever  had  more  to  his 
credit.  These  missions,  however,  do  not  include  the 
many  triduums  and  retreats  of  various  kinds  that  he 
gave  in  different  parts  of  the  country. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  overestimate  the  blessings 
that  accrued  to  the  Church  of  America  from  these 
apostolic  labors.  How  the  great  missioner  could  touch 
the  souls  of  all  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  pas- 
tors and  the  parochial  clergy  often  found  themselves 
almost  unconsciously  making  the  mission  which  they 
had  engaged  Father  McKenna  to  give  to  their  par- 
ishes, for  they  were  convinced  that  they  could  not  make 
a  better  retreat  than  by  following  the  spiritual  exer- 
cises he  was  giving  to  their  people. 

But  the  blessings  that  came  to  the  Church  of  the 
United  States  from  the  friar's  priesthood  were  not 
confined  to  his  work  as  a  missionary,  preacher  and  lec- 
turer, or  to  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Holy  Name  So- 
ciety, the  Rosary  Confraternity  and  other  religious 
devotions.  The  influence  of  his  very  life  and  personal 
character  was  incalculable.  We  shall,  however,  speak 
only  of  the  influence  he  exercised  upon  the  clergy. 
Young  priests  in  particular — for  whom  he  had  a 
special  love  and  in  whom  he  took  a  keen  interest- 
profited  by  his  example.  Many  of  our  most  represen- 
tative clergymen  of  today  frankly  acknowledge  that 
they  owe  their  lofty  ideals  of  the  priesthood  to  contact 
with  Father  McKenna  in  the  early  days  of  their  min- 
istry. But  while  the  older  clergy,  already  formed  and 
settled  in  their  habits,  were  naturally  less  affected  by 
him  than  their  younger  confreres,  they  were  not  less 
edified.  All  regarded  him  as  a  model  of  every  priestly 
virtue  and  an  ideal  missionary. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

PILGRIMAGE  TO  THE  HOLY  LAND. 
(1906) 

IN  the  sixteenth  century  there  lived  in  Mexico,  then 
known  as  New  Spain,  a  saintly  Dominican  missionary, 
Fray  Domingo  de  Betanzos — one  of  the  most  lovable 
of  the  many  splendid  ecclesiastical  characters  in  Span- 
ish-American history.  Betanzos  was  the  father  and 
founder  of  his  Order  in  Mexico,  where  his  name  is  in- 
separably linked  with  the  history  of  both  Church  and 
State.  Borne  down  by  his  years,  as  well  as  worn  out 
by  his  apostolic  labors,  the  humble  friar  conceived  the 
pious  idea  of  going  to  the  Holy  Land  to  end  his  days 
amidst  the  scenes  of  the  life  and  death  of  his  Divine 
Master.  It  was  in  1549  that  the  aged  priest,  with  the 
permission  of  his  Father  General,  and  to  the  regret  of 
all  Mexico,  started  on  his  long  journey,  "carrying 
away  with  him  the  hearts  of  all  men."  God,  however, 
had  decreed  that  he  should  not  realize  his  holy  design. 
After  reaching  his  native  Spain  he  fell  sick  and  died 
in  the  odor  of  sanctity  in  the  Dominican  monastery  of 
Saint  Paul,  Valladolid,  before  the  close  of  the  same 
year. 

Father  McKenna,  although  he  lived  in  a  less  heroic 
age  and  had  fewer  privations  to  bear,  had  much  in 
common  with  the  venerable  Fray  Domingo  de  Betan- 
zos, with  whose  life  he  was  well  acquainted.  Like 
Fray  Domingo,  Father  McKenna  also  had  long  and 
ardently  desired  to  see  the  Holy  Land.  But  there 

316 


PILGRIMAGE  TO  THE  HOLY  LAND.  317 

was  this  difference  between  the  Spanish  friar  and  his 
American  brother,  that  while  the  former  yearned  to 
end  his  earthly  pilgrimage  in  that  portion  of  the  world 
sanctified  by  the  actual  presence  of  the  Redeemer,  the 
latter  had  two  ends  in  view — to  satisfy  his  personal  de- 
votion and  to  draw  renewed  inspiration  even  in  his 
old  age  from  those  hallowed  places  for  the  furtherance 
of  his  work  of  saving  souls. 

Although  Father  McKenna  had  longed  for  many 
years  to  make  this  holy  pilgrimage,  he  had  entertained 
little  hope  of  ever  satisfying  his  desire.  Early  in  1906, 
however,  one  of  his  friends,  the  late  John  F.  Doyle  of 
New  York,  invited  the  venerable  missionary  to  accom- 
pany him  on  a  tour  to  the  Holy  Land.  This  was  a 
delightful  surprise  to  Father  McKenna.  Believing 
that  he  would  never  again  have  so  favorable  an  oppor- 
tunity of  realizing  his  lifelong  wish,  especially  now  that 
old  age  had  begun  to  make  serious  inroads  upon  his 
strength,  he  at  once  laid  the  matter  before  his  provin- 
cial. The  required  permission  being  gladly  granted  as 
a  slight  recognition  of  his  long  and  faithful  services, 
Father  McKenna  without  delay  set  about  the  prep- 
arations for  his  pilgrimage,  which  to  him  seemed  like  a 
journey  to  heaven.  The  first  step  to  be  taken  was  one 
that  demanded  the  utmost  tact:  that  is,  to  obtain  the 
consent  of  pastors  for  the  cancelling  of  many  engage- 
ments. Although  he  succeeded  in  arranging  this  deli- 
cate matter  with  little  trouble,  he  kept  steadily  at  his 
work  almost  up  to  the  very  day  of  his  departure.  And 
in  the  meantime  a  third  person  had  been  added  to  the 
party — the  Rev.  Bernard  A.  McKenna,  whose  diary 
we  follow  in  describing  the  missionary's  pilgrimage. 

It  was  in  the  afternoon  of  Friday,  March  9,  1906, 


318  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

that  the  three  pilgrims  sailed  from  New  York  on  the 
British  steamship  "Republic."  Like  Fray  de  Betan- 
zos,  Father  McKenna  carried  with  him  the  love  and 
good  wishes  of  all.  The  voyage  was  uneventful.  For 
the  sake  of  his  health  the  venerable  missionary  spent 
much  of  the  time  on  deck,  where  he  meditated,  read — 
principally  about  the  places  he  was  to  visit — or  walked, 
joining  in  an  occasional  game  of  quoits  or  shuffle-board 
with  his  two  companions  or  other  passengers.  Fol- 
lowing the  habits  of  regularity  he  had  always  practiced, 
he  retired  at  9:30  or  10  P.  M.  But  before  going  to 
bed  the  pilgrims  never  failed  to  assemble  in  Father 
McKenna's  state-room  to  recite  his  favorite  prayer  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin — the  Rosary. 

They  arrived  at  Pont  a  Delgada,  Saint  Michael — 
one  of  the  islands  of  the  Azores — on  the  evening  of 
March  15.  Eager  to  visit  his  eucharistic  Lord  and  to 
offer  up  the  holy  sacrifice,  both  of  which  he  had  been 
deprived  of  for  nearly  a  week,  Father  McKenna  was 
rejoiced  to  learn  that  the  ship  would  not  leave  that 
port  before  noon  the  next  day.  The  following  morn- 
ing he  and  his  priestly  companion  rose  early  and 
started  for  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Sebastian.  As  he 
left  the  ship,  he  lost  his  footing  and  was  prevented 
from  falling  from  the  tender  by  one  of  the  crew.  Un- 
daunted by  the  mishap,  however,  he  continued  his  way 
and  said  mass  with  his  customary  devotion. 

March  17,  Saint  Patrick's  Day,  was  given  to  inno- 
cent celebration  in  honor  of  Ireland's  patron  saint. 
Loyal  and  joyous  in  his  piety,  the  missionary  wore 
"the  green"  and  joined  in  the  mirth  of  the  day  with 
as  keen  an  interest  as  the  youngest  passenger.  Gi- 
braltar, the  next  port,  was  reached  on  the  morning  of 


PILGRIMAGE  TO  THE  HOLY  LAND.  319 

March  19,  the  feast  of  Saint  Joseph.  There,  too, 
Father  McKenna  hastened  to  the  cathedral  of  Santa 
Maria  la  Coronata  to  pray  before  the  altar  and  say 
mass  in  honor  of  the  foster-father  of  our  Lord.  At 
the  cathedral  he  met  the  saintly  vicar  apostolic  of  Gi- 
braltar, the  Right  Rev.  Remigio  G.  Barbieri,  O.S.B., 
and  the  two  holy  men  appeared  to  be  instinctively 
drawn  to  each  other.  After  brief  stops  at  Algiers  and 
Genoa,  the  pilgrims  found  themselves  at  Naples  on 
the  morning  of  March  25,  the  feast  of  the  Annuncia- 
tion. Hurrying  to  the  cathedral  of  Saint  Januarius, 
the  two  priests  offered  up  the  holy  sacrifice  and  prayed 
before  the  noted  relic  of  the  saint's  blood.  The  re- 
mainder of  the  day  was  given  to  touring  the  city. 
Among  the  places  visited  was  the  great  Dominican 
church  of  San  Domenico,  where  repose  the  remains  of 
the  Right  Rev.  Richard  L.  Concanen,  O.P.,  the  first 
bishop  of  New  York,  for  whom  the  missionary  had  a 
deep  reverence.1  Here  Father  McKenna  was  warmly 
received  by  his  brethren  in  religion  to  whom  his  piety 
and  his  fruitful  labors  in  the  cause  of  souls  were  well- 
known. 

From  the  moment  of  embarkation  Father  McKenna 
enjoyed  the  voyage;  but  from  this  point,  as  all  was 
new  to  him,  his  interest  was  greatly  intensified.  On 
board  the  ship  the  distinguished  appearance,  genial 
disposition  and  evident  holiness  of  the  venerable  mis- 
sionary won  for  him  friends  and  admirers  irrespective 
of  religious  belief.  Among  them  were  two  ladies,  de- 
scendants of  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  who,  how- 
ever, unlike  their  famous  progenitor,  were  not  Catho- 

i  For  the  life  of  this  distinguished  churchman  see  the  writer's  articles  on 
the  Right  Rev.  Richard  L.  Concanen  in  The  Catholic  Historical  Review, 
January  (pages  400  ff.)  and  April  (pages  19  ff.),  1916. 


320  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

lies.  Whenever  it  was  known  that  Father  McKenna 
was  to  say  mass  at  any  port,  whether  on  the  outgoing 
or  the  return  voyage,  even  the  non-Catholic  passengers 
"^ would  go  ashore  to  assist  at  the  holy  sacrifice.  During 
the  ship's  stay  in  Genoa,  some  of  his  fellow  passengers 
gave  a  dinner  in  his  honor  at  one  of  the  leading  hotels 
of  the  city. 

Alexandria,  which  was  the  next  break  in  the  jour- 
ney, was  reached  on  March  28.  As  the  vessel  was  to 
remain  in  the  historic  Egyptian  city  until  the  next  day, 
the  three  travellers  were  soon  ashore.  Father  Mc- 
Kenna was  greatly  diverted  by  the  noisy,  motley 
crowd  that  came  to  meet  the  boat.  Until  then  he  had 
contended  that  Naples  had  no  equal  in  that  respect, 
but  he  was  forced  to  admit,  after  seeing  Alexandria, 
that  the  picturesque  Italian  city  could  at  best  claim 
but  a  second  place.  The  afternoon  of  March  28  and 
the  morning  of  the  following  day  were  spent  in  visiting 
the  various  points  of  interest  in  the  ancient  city,  in- 
cluding the  monastery  of  the  Franciscan  Fathers, 
where  the  two  priests  had  an  opportunity  to  say  mass. 
The  journey  thence  to  Cairo,  where  the  pilgrims 
spent  nearly  three  days,  was  made  by  train.  After 
saying  mass  each  morning  in  the  Franciscan  church 
there,  the  remainder  of  the  time  was  spent  visiting  the 
great  Pyramids,  the  famed  Sphinx  of  Gheezeh,  and 
the  places  associated  by  tradition  with  Moses  and  the 
Holy  Family  during  the  sojourn  in  Egypt.  As  was 
but  natural  with  one  of  his  deeply  religious  tempera- 
ment, these  sacred  places  made  a  strong  impression  on 
Father  McKenna.  From  Cairo  he  wrote,  April  1,  to 
his  friend,  Miss  Eliza  McCarthy  of  New  York: 

"  I  have  sent  you  several  postal  cards  which  I  hope  you  have 


PILGRIMAGE  TO  THE  HOLY  LAND.  321 

received.  They  all  told  you  that  I  am  well  and  happy  and  en- 
joying my  pilgrimage  very  much.  Thank  God. — Yesterday  we 
visited  the  little  home  where  Jesus,  Mary  and  Joseph  lived  while 
they  were  in  Egypt.  How  humble  and  poor  it  was !  Today  we 
start  for  Jerusalem  and  will  arrive  there  tomorrow  evening.  I 
will  write  you  again  soon." 

Both  in  Cairo  and  Alexandria  the  Franciscan 
Fathers,  to  whom  Father  McKenna  was  not  unknown, 
not  merely  gave  the  pilgrims  a  cordial  welcome,  but 
volunteered  to  act  as  their  guides — a  kindness  that 
deeply  touched  the  pious  friar's  heart.  Another  sub- 
ject that  filled  the  Dominican's  mind  in  his  travels 
along  northern  Africa  was  the  thought  of  the  many 
members  of  his  Order  who  in  bygone  days  had  so 
bravely  suffered  or  even  shed  their  blood  for  the  faith 
in  those  countries. 

From  Cairo  the  travellers  proceeded  to  Port  Said, 
whence  they  sailed  for  Jaffa.  But  as  they  were  unable 
to  land  at  that  port,  they  continued  their  way  to  Haifa. 
Arriving  there  late  on  Monday,  April  3,  they  went  im- 
mediately to  the  convent  of  the  Carmelite  Fathers  on 
the  summit  of  near-by  Mount  Carmel.  It  were  hard 
to  imagine,  much  less  to  describe,  the  emotions  that 
filled  the  heart  of  Father  McKenna  when  he  caught 
his  first  glimpse  of  the  Holy  Land — and  especially 
when  he  first  set  foot  on  the  soil  trodden  by  the  feet  of 
the  Divine  Saviour.  The  holy  man's  soul  was  so  rapt 
in  ecstasy  that  he  was  unable  to  speak.  For  him  the 
landing  at  Haifa  was  the  beginning  of  a  season  of  spirit- 
ual j  oy  which  he  never  forgot.  Then  and  there  he  would 
have  been  content  to  die.  He  recalled  all  that  he  had 
so  often  read  and  pondered  over  in  Holy  Scripture 
concerning  the  life,  sufferings  and  death  of  Christ  our 
22 


322  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Lord.  The  thought  of  it  made  it  impossible  for  him 
to  sleep,  tired  as  he  was.  The  next  morning  the  two 
priests  said  mass  at  an  early  hour  in  the  Grotto  of  the 
Prophet  Elias,  that  they  might  spend  the  day  in  visit- 
ing the  School  of  Prophets,  the  traditional  sojourn  of 
the  Holy  Family  on  Mount  Carmel  and  other  places 
of  pilgrimage. 

On  Wednesday  the  pilgrims  started  in  procession  for 
Nazareth,  arriving  there  shortly  after  high  noon.  No 
place  on  earth  is  more  certain  to  give  rise  to  devout 
reflections  and  meditation  in  the  earnest  Christian  soul 
than  Nazareth,  the  home  of  the  Holy  Family.  The 
reader  who  has  followed  this  biography  with  care  may 
picture  to  himself  what  must  have  been  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  emotion  when  gazing  upon  this  sacred  city. 
There  he  would  fain  have  remained  long.  As  he 
walked  along  the  streets  of  the  city,  he  thought  of  how 
often  the  same  pathways  had  been  trodden  by  Christ, 
His  mother  and  His  foster-father- — Saint  Joseph.  The 
places  that  appealed  most  strongly  and  vividly  to  him 
were  Mary's  Well  and  the  spot  which  tradition  points 
out  as  that  whereon  stood  the  home  of  Christ — where 
"the  Word  was  made  flesh."  Over  this  stands  the 
Church  of  the  Annunciation,  and  there  the  missionary 
had  the  happiness  of  saying  mass  the  morning  after 
his  arrival.  It  was  a  privilege  for  which  he  never 
ceased  to  thank  God  from  his  heart. 

The  little  party  intended  going  to  Mount  Tabor, 
which  they  could  see  clearly  in  the  distance;  but  be- 
cause of  the  pressure  of  time  they  did  violence  to  their 
hearts,  and  on  their  return  to  Haifa  proceeded  to  Jaffa 
by  boat  instead  of  by  land  as  they  had  originally  pro- 
posed. It  was  Count  le  Grelle,  a  Belgian  nobleman 


PILGRIMAGE  TO  THE  HOLY  LAND.  323 

whom  they  had  met  at  Mount  Carmel,  who  persuaded 
them  to  go  with  him  by  water — a  fortunate  circum- 
stance, for  some  French  pilgrims  who  took  the  other 
route  were  assailed  and  robbed  by  highwaymen.  From 
Jaffa  they  went  at  once  to  Jerusalem  where  they  ar- 
rived on  the  evening  of  April  6.  The  two  priests  were 
warmly  welcomed  by  the  Dominican  Fathers  of  the 
celebrated  Biblical  University  of  Saint  Stephen, 
Father  McKenna's  reputation  having  preceded  him. 

With  Saint  Stephen's  as  the  centre  of  his  activities 
for  the  next  twelve  days,  Father  McKenna  began  his 
round  of  visits  to  the  holy  places  of  Jerusalem  and  its 
vicinity.  On  the  morning  after  his  arrival  he  had  the 
privilege  of  celebrating  mass  in  the  Chapel  of  the 
Flagellation  which,  according  to  tradition,  stands  on 
the  site  of  the  Praetorium,  or  house  of  Pilate,  in  which 
our  Lord  was  scourged.  Later  in  the  same  day  he 
went  on  to  Ain  Karim,  so  as  to  be  able  to  offer  up  the 
holy  sacrifice  on  Palm  Sunday  in  the  church  of  Saint 
John  the  Baptist,  built,  we  are  assured,  over  the  spot 
once  occupied  by  the  home  of  Zacharias,  where  the 
Blessed  Virgin  on  her  visit  to  Saint  Elizabeth  gave 
voice  to  the  sublime  hymn  Magnificat.2  The  three 
following  mornings  the  venerable  missionary  performed 
the  same  sacred  function  in  the  Cave  of  Bethlehem, 
the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  and  on  Mount  Calvary- 
places  especially  sanctified  by  their  close  association 
with  the  birth,  agony  and  death  of  our  Divine  Lord. 

2  In  designating  the  places  where  Father  McKenna  said  mass  on  Satur- 
day and  Sunday  (April  7  and  8)  we  have  followed  his  letter  in  preference 
to  Father  Bernard  McKenna's  diary.  The  missionary's  letter  was  written 
in  Jerusalem,  while  the  part  of  the  diary  dealing  with  the  tour  from  Cairo 
on  was  made  up  from  postal  cards  some  months  after  the  pilgrims  had 
returned  to  the  United  States. 


324  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

It  was  a  matter  of  deep  regret  to  Father  McKenna 
that,  because  of  Holy  Week,  he  was  unable  to  celebrate 
mass  on  Thursday,  Friday  and  Saturday.  He  was 
partly  compensated  for  this,  however,  by  being  able  to 
take  part  in  the  solemn  services  at  Saint  Stephen's  and 
to  continue  his  pilgrimages  to  the  places  most  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  Passion.  At  midnight  on 
Holy  Thursday  he  made  the  Way  of  the  Cross  along 
the  Via  Dolorosa — traversing  the  very  streets  over 
which  the  Divine  Master  passed  bearing  his  cross. 
In  the  afternoon  of  Good  Friday,  together  with  many 
other  devout  pilgrims,  he  again  performed  this  act  of 
devotion.  To  the  end  of  his  life  he  continued  to 
speak  of  these  two  occasions  as  having  moved  him  to 
the  depths  of  his  soul. 

On  April  13 — Good  Friday — ,  he  wrote  the  same 
devout  friend,  Miss  McCarthy,  with  characteristic  re- 
serve : 

"I  have  been  in  the  Holy  City  nearly  a  week.  We  attended 
the  Good  Friday  exercises  in  St.  Stephen's  Church  which  is  at- 
tended by  the  Dominican  Fathers.  They  have  a  beautiful  con- 
vent attached  to  the  church.  The  community  is  quite  large  and 
edifying.  Father  Bernard  and  I  have  now  visited  all  the  impor- 
tant places  in  and  around  Jerusalem.  We  leave  here  on  the 
Wednesday  after  Easter  on  our  return  trip.  So  far  I  have 
enjoyed  our  visit  more  than  words  can  tell.  I  will  go  home  sat- 
isfied, and  will  thank  God  all  the  days  of  my  life  that  I  was  per- 
mitted to  make  this  visit. 

"  At  3  o'clock  this  afternoon  we  shall  make  the  Stations  of 
the  Cross,  travelling  from  the  place  where  our  Lord  was  con- 
demned by  Pilate  to  the  hill  of  Calvary  over  the  very  ground 
over  which  He  was  led,  carrying  the  Cross.  How  your  heart 
would  beat  for  love  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  were  you  with  us !  We 
have  said  Mass  at  the  place  of  the  Angelic  Salutation ;  where  our 


VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA  IN  THE  HOLY  LAND. 


PILGRIMAGE  TO  THE  HOLY  LAND.  325 

Blessed  Lady  visited  Saint  Elizabeth ;  in  the  cave  where  our  Lord 
was  born  and  at  the  places  of  His  agony,  scourging  and  cruci- 
fixion— also  on  Calvary.  You  can  imagine  our  feelings  when 
offering  up  the  Holy  Sacrifice  in  these  holy  places !  We  hope 
yet  to  say  Mass  over  his  Tomb  and  on  Mount  Olivet,  whence  He 
ascended  into  heaven. 

"  My  health  is  excellent.  I  am  surprised  how  well  I  have  been 
able  to  travel  from  place  to  place.  At  all  the  holy  spots  you 
have  been  remembered  in  my  Masses.  .  .  ." 

Easter  Sunday  he  sang  solemn  mass  in  the  presence 
of  his  brethren  in  the  church  of  Saint  Stephen,  so 
named  because  it  stands  on  the  ground  where  the  first 
Christian  martyr  was  put  to  death.  On  this  occasion 
the  good  priest  had  the  happiness  of  having  as  deacon 
and  subdeacon  two  students  from  his  own  province. 
It  is  worthy  of  note,  indeed,  that  the  singing  of  the 
solemn  mass  at  Saint  Stephen's  on  Easter  Sunday 
was  considered  a  special  privilege  of  the  eminent  Bib- 
lical scholar,  Father  Joseph  Lagrange — a  privilege 
which  he  had  never  been  known  to  cede  to  any  one. 
But  he  held  the  American  missionary  in  such  esteem 
that  of  his  own  accord  he  requested  him  to  officiate  in 
his  stead. 

The  places  mentioned  in  the  diary  as  having  been 
visited  these  days  are:  the  Tombs  of  the  Prophets;  the 
Garden  of  Gethsemane;  the  walls  of  old  Jerusalem; 
the  Church  of  the  Immaculate  Conception;  points  of 
interest  along  the  Via  Dolorosa  or  the  Way  of  the 
Cross;  Bethlehem,  including  the  Grotto  of  the  Nativ- 
ity and  the  Tomb  of  Rachel;  the  Plain  of  Stephen; 
the  old  Basilica  of  Constantine ;  the  "  Garden  En- 
closed"; the  traditional  home  of  Zacharias  and  Saint 
Elizabeth — the  parents  of  John  the  Baptist;  Mount 


326  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Olivet;  Mount  Calvary;  the  Place  of  the  Wailing  of 
the  Jews;  the  Tomb  of  Absalom  and  that  of  the 
Prophet  Zacharias;  the  Valley  of  Jehosaphat;  the 
Coenaculum,  where  tradition  says  the  Last  Supper 
was  held,  but  which  is  now  a  Turkish  mosque;  the  two 
places  of  our  Lord's  imprisonment;  the  new  Church  of 
Saint  Mary,  given  to  the  Benedictines  by  the  German 
Emperor;  Emmaus;  the  convent  of  the  Sisters  of 
Reparatrice;  the  Mosque  of  Omar,  situated  on  the  site 
of  the  Temple  of  David. 

Those  who  knew  Father  McKenna  intimately  can 
realize  what  an  inundation  of  spiritual  delights  must 
have  accompanied  these  visits  to  the  most  hallowed 
spots  in  Christendom;  how  he  must  have  revelled  in 
holy  thoughts  and  desires.  It  was  just  such  a  spirit- 
ual banquet  as  that  to  which  old  Padre  Domingo  de 
Betanzos  had  anxiously  looked  forward,  but  had  not 
lived  to  enjoy.  To  the  end  of  his  life  Father  Mc- 
Kenna rejoiced  that  he  had  had  the  good  fortune  to 
be  in  Jerusalem  during  Holy  Week  and  that  he  had 
been  able  to  take  part  in  the  symbolic  re-enactment  of 
the  last  sad  events  of  the  Saviour's  life  on  earth  in  the 
very  place  where  they  had  occurred. 

On  Easter  Monday,  though  much  fatigued,  the  aged 
missionary  rose  at  an  early  hour  to  say  mass  on  that 
part  of  Mount  Olivet  to  which  tradition  points  as  the 
place  of  Christ's  ascension  into  heaven.  Later  in  the 
day  he  journeyed  on  to  Jericho  and  looked  upon  the 
Jordan  and  the  Dead  Sea.  Tuesday,  after  mass  in 
Jericho,  he  returned  to  Saint  Stephen's,  and  on  the 
following  day  offered  up  the  holy  sacrifice  at  the  tomb 
of  our  Lord  in  the  Franciscan  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulcher.  Father  McKenna's  pilgrimage  to  the 


PILGRIMAGE  TO  THE  HOLY  LAND.  327 

Holy  Land  came  to  an  end  with  this  last  visit  to  the 
Holy  Sepulcher.  His  devotion,  however,  was  not 
satisfied.  Indeed,  it  cost  him  a  struggle  to  depart 
from  a  place  that,  always  dear  to  his  heart,  had  now 
strengthened  its  hold  on  his  affections  by  personal  as- 
sociation. 

From  Jerusalem  the  travellers  proceeded  to  Bey- 
rout;  and  from  there  Father  McKenna  wrote  Miss 
McCarthy,  April  20:  "Here  I  am  at  Beyrout,  with 
my  good  friends,  feeling  hearty,  healthy  and  well.  I 
thank  God  for  His  goodness  to  me.  We  left  Jerusa- 
lem two  days  ago  on  our  homeward  journey.  We  en- 
joyed our  visit  to  the  Holy  Land  more  than  words 
can  express.  How  favored  we  were  to  be  in  Jerusa- 
lem in  Holy  Week ! "  The  pilgrims  reached  Constan- 
tinople on  April  25,  and  were  cordially  received  by  the 
Dominican  Fathers.  They  had  intended  to  spend 
some  days  in  the  capital  of  Constantine,  but  the  war- 
clouds  that  were  then  gathering  over  the  Balkan  States 
and  Turkey  made  it  unsafe.  So  they  remained  only 
long  enough  to  get  a  casual  view  of  the  city.  From 
Constantinople  they  went  on  to  Athens,  taking  the 
boat  there  for  Naples. 

It  was  on  May  4  that  Father  McKenna  arrived  at 
the  historic  Benedictine  abbey  of  Monte  Cassino,  where 
he  was  privileged  to  say  mass  over  the  relics  of  the 
"Father  of  Monasticism  in  the  West"— Saint  Bene- 
dict. Here,  too,  he  was  edified  by  the  holy  lives  of 
the  Benedictines,  and  saw  for  the  first  time  the  hand- 
writing of  the  great  Saint  Thomas  of  Aquin. 

Two  days  after  his  arrival  at  Rome,  Father  Mc- 
Kenna wrote  an  intimate  friend: 

"I  cannot  understand  how  I  failed  to  write  to  you.     I  was 


328  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

sure  I  had  done  so  long  ago.  I  was  glad  to  learn  from  your 
letter  that  you  are  well.  My  own  health,  thank  God,  is  very 
good ;  and  I  am  enjoying  my  trip  very  much.  I  have  seen  what 
I  have  long  desired  to  see — the  places  consecrated  by  the  life  and 
sufferings  of  our  Blessed  Lord.  I  had  hardly  hoped  for  such  a 
blessing,  but  God  thought  it  well  to  grant  it  to  me.  You  were 
not  forgotten  in  the  Holy  Land.  .  .  .  The  Holy  Land  is  the 
land  of  the  soul.  There  one  realizes  what  faith  and  religion  are. 
We  were  in  Jerusalem  during  Holy  Week,  and  took  part  in  the 
'Way  of  the  Cross*  through  the  streets  on  Good  Friday.  At 
each  station  a  sermon  was  delivered.  On  Calvary  an  image  of 
our  Lord  was  taken  down  from  the  Cross  and  carried  to  the 
tomb.  .  .  .  You  will  be  remembered  at  Lourdes,  where  Father 
Bernard  and  myself  will  make  a  week's  retreat. 

"  Ever  affectionately  your  old  friend, 

"  C.  H.  MCKENNA,  O.P.— God  bless  you."3 

At  Rome  Mr.  Doyle,  who  wished  to  go  to  cities 
they  did  not  care  to  see,  parted  from  his  clerical  friends 
and  met  them  only  occasionally  from  that  time  until 
they  reached  Queenstown.  The  two  priests,  however, 
tarried  in  the  Eternal  City  for  nearly  three  weeks. 
For  Father  McKenna,  as  on  his  first  visit  there,  each 
day  was  a  spiritual  feast.  Few  were  the  shrines  or 
holy  places  in  Rome  at  which  he  did  not  pray  on  this 
occasion  for  he  felt  that  he  would  never  have  another 
opportunity  of  satisfying  his  devotion  among  scenes  so 
hallowed  by  Christian  associations. 

During  this  visit  to  Rome  evidences  were  not  want- 
ing of  the  esteem  in  which  the  great  missionary  was 
held  not  merely  by  the  authorities  of  his  own  Order, 
but  by  many  other  church  dignitaries.  Among  those 
who  showed  him  special  honor  we  may  single  out  the 
two  Cardinals  Vanutelli,  the  present  Cardinal  Friih- 

«  Letter  of  May  7,  1906,  to  P.  F.  McDonnell  of  New  York. 


PILGRIMAGE  TO  THE  HOLY  LAND.  329 

wirth,  O.P.,  Most  Rev.  Hyacinth  Cormier — then  Mas- 
ter General  of  the  Dominicans — ,  Most  Rev.  Thomas 
Esser,  secretary  of  the  Index,  and  Most  Rev.  Albert 
Lepidi,  master  of  the  Sacred  Palace.  The  present 
Archbishop  Kennedy,  rector  of  the  American  College, 
insisted  that  Father  McKenna  should  address  the 
clerical  students  under  his  charge  on  the  ideals  of  the 
priesthood. 

Again,  at  the  celebration  of  the  golden  jubilee  of 
Father  Cormier's  ordination — May  17,  the  distin- 
guished American  friar  received  almost  as  much  atten- 
tion as  the  saintly  jubilarian.  On  May  13,  Father 
McKenna  was  received  in  special  audience  by  Pius  X 
who  showed  much  interest  in  his  life's  work,  and  urged 
him  to  continue  his  fruitful  labors.  And  again,  May 
18,  when  Pope  Pius  gave  an  audience  to  Father  Cor- 
mier and  the  representatives  of  the  Order  who  had 
come  from  various  countries  to  be  present  at  the  sacer- 
dotal jubilee  of  their  General,  the  Pontiff  insisted  that 
the  two  venerable  priests,  Fathers  Cormier  and  Mc- 
Kenna, should  kneel  side  by  side  before  him  to  receive 
a  special  papal  blessing.4 

An  event  that  gave  Father  McKenna  keen  joy  on 
this  visit  to  the  Eternal  City  was  the  beatification  of 
eight  members  of  his  Order  who  had  received  the 
crown  of  martyrdom  in  China.  Of  this  he  writes, 
May  20,  to  Miss  McCarthy: 

"  This  has  been  a  great  week  for  Dominicans,  who  came  from 
all  parts  of  the  world  to  celebrate  the  jubilee  of  our  saintly 
Master  General.  But  this  was  not  all.  Today  eight  of  our 

*  The  writer  represented  his  own  province  and  that  of  California  at 
Father  Cormier's  celebration,  and  was  thus  an  eyewitness  of  the  veneration 
shown  Father  McKenna  at  Rome. 


330  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

holy  martyrs  were  beatified.  Oh,  what  a  glorious  sight  to  see 
Saint  Peter's  illuminated  and  all  the  nobility  and  clergy  of  Rome 
filling  the  grand  edifice  for  the  beatification !  I  send  you  a  little 
picture  of  the  new  blessed." 

On  leaving  Rome;  May  24,  the  venerable  missionary 
made  a  tour  through  parts  of  Italy.  The  diary  of  the 
journey  shows  that  nearly  all  the  places  to  which  he 
went  possessed  relics  of  some  member  of  his  Order  or 
some  other  saint  for  whom  he  had  a  special  veneration. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  he  paid  a  visit  to  the  tomb 
of  Saint  Charles  Borromeo.  But  from  this  time  the 
holy  man  suited  himself  to  the  wishes  of  his  com- 
panion, who  was  making  his  first  visit  to  continental 
Europe. 

After  his  tour  of  Italy  there  was  but  one  other  sanc- 
tuary of  religion  in  Europe  which  Father  McKenna 
especially  desired  to  see.  This  was  Lourdes,  a  place 
which  the  reader  knows  was  dear  to  his  heart.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  sailed  from  Genoa  for  Marseilles  June  8, 
stopping  in  the  latter  place  only  long  enough  to  offer 
up  the  holy  sacrifice  and  to  visit  the  city's  magnificent 
cathedral.  At  Toulouse,  the  next  break  of  the  jour- 
ney, he  remained  over  night  to  say  mass  for  the  last 
time  over  the  relics  of  Saint  Thomas  of  Aquin. 

Arriving  at  Lourdes  on  the  evening  of  Sunday, 
June  10,  the  aged  priest's  soul  was  rejoiced  at  the 
sight  of  his  beloved  statue  of  the  Virgin  in  the  grotto 
which  nature  has  chiselled  in  the  rock  Massabielle. 
That  he  might  the  more  fully  gratify  his  devotion,  he 
at  once  began  a  week's  retreat  in  honor  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  To  say  that  this  was  a  time  of  spiritual  joy 
for  the  missionary  but  imperfectly  expresses  his  state 
of  mind.  Morning  after  morning  he  arose  at  an  early 


PILGRIMAGE  TO  THE  HOLY  LAND.  331 

hour  to  say  mass  at  the  grotto  of  Mary,  after  which 
he  remained  to  pour  out  his  soul  in  prayer.  Not  satis- 
fied with  this,  he  made  frequent  visits  there  each  day. 
From  Lourdes  he  wrote  again  (June  17)  to  Miss 
McCarthy: 

"  I  write  to  let  you  know  that  Father  Bernard  and  I  are  both 
well  and  enjoying  our  little  pilgrimage  to  Lourdes  very  much. 
Blessed  be  God  for  His  goodness.  We  have  been  much  edified 
by  all  we  have  seen  here.  The  faith  of  the  people  who  come  to 
this  holy  place  is  wonderful.  Day  and  night  you  may  see  them 
praying  at  the  grotto.  Often  they  sing  hymns  in  honor  of  the 
Blessed  Mother.  We  have  witnessed  many  touching  scenes — 
young  men  taking  care  of  an  aged  father  or  mother  who  is  para- 
lyzed ;  mothers  with  their  afflicted  children,  etc.  In  a  pilgrimage 
of  five  thousand  there  were  three  hundred  sick  or  disabled.  One 
was  a  young  priest  totally  blind  who  was  brought  here  by  his 
mother.  Two  miracles  occurred  the  day  before  yesterday.  The 
Blessed  Mother  is  doing  wonders  here  at  Lourdes.  .  .  .  Yester- 
day I  was  speaking  to  a  gentleman  who,  with  beads  in  hand,  was 
visiting  the  grotto.  I  found  him  to  be  an  Englishman.  He 
was,  I  saw,  much  agitated.  Finally  he  told  me  that  he  was  a 
Protestant  clergyman,  and  that  his  wife  and  children  were  that 
very  day  baptized  and  received  into  the  Church.  He  said  that 
he  was  glad  that  they  had  entered  the  Church,  but  that  he  was 
himself  hesitating.  I  encouraged  him,  and  promised  both  to 
pray  for  him  myself  and  to  get  others  to  do  so.  The  promise 
seemed  to  please  him.  Won't  you  pray  that  he  may  see  the 
light?  .  .  ." 

And  on  the  same  day  he  says  in  a  letter  to  P.  F. 
McDonnell : 

"You  are  daily  remembered  in  my  Mass,  wherever  I  am. 
May  our  Blessed  Lord  ever  keep  you  in  His  loving  care.  Well, 
my  son,  it  is  impossible  for  me  in  this  letter  to  give  you  an  idea 
of  all  I  have  seen  and  felt  since  I  left  New  York.  The  sights 


332  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

and  scenes  of  the  Holy  Land  cannot  well  be  described ;  but,  with 
God's  help,  we  shall  some  day  talk  my  trip  over  together.  Here 
I  have  been  in  Lourdes  one  week  today.  I  am  very  fond  of  this 
holy  place.  There  is  an  air  of  sanctity  here  which  you  cannot 
find  elsewhere.  There  was  an  immense  pilgrimage  here  last 
week  from  the  city  of  Lyons,  and  several  miracles  occurred.  It 
is  wonderful  to  see  the  faith  of  the  people.  Yesterday  a  splen- 
did young  man  spoke  to  me.  He  told  me  was  a  minister  of  the 
Church  of  England;  that  that  morning  his  wife  and  children 
had  been  baptized  by  the  bishop  of  the  diocese  who  is  now  in 
Lourdes ;  that  he  was  glad  of  her  conversion  and  was  praying 
God  to  get  the  faith  also.  Pray  for  him." 

When  the  two  priests  had  finished  their  retreat  at 
Lourdes,  they  travelled  leisurely  through  France  and 
Belgium,  on  to  the  country  of  the  Rhine  and  into  Eng- 
land. But  the  American  missioner's  tour  abroad — at 
least  until  he  began  his  homeward  journey  from 
Lourdes — was  essentially  a  pilgrimage  of  devotion. 
Yet,  as  has  been  said,  he  never  suffered  his  piety  to 
blunt  his  sense  of  humor  or  his  keen  love  of  the  beau- 
tiful and  the  aesthetic.  Thus  in  these  travels,  as  in 
those  of  former  years,  he  knew  how  to  combine  pleas- 
ure with  religious  devotion.  To  the  latter,  however, 
he  rightly  gave  the  first  place.  For  this  reason,  as  his 
physical  strength  was  not  equal  to  his  mental  alertness, 
he  had  at  times  to  permit  his  younger  companion  to  go 
alone  to  the  art  galleries,  public  buildings  or  other 
points  of  secular  interest.  But  when  a  visit  was  to 
be  made  to  a  place  sacred  to  religion,  Father  McKenna 
was  sure  to  be  ready  for  any  exertion  or  sacrifice. 

It  was  on  July  7,  1906,  that  the  great  missionary  ar- 
rived in  Dublin.  Despite  his  years,  his  love  of  his  na- 
tive land  and  kindred  had  not  grown  less.  Thus,  feel- 
ing that  he  would  not  again  have  the  happiness  of  vis- 


PILGRIMAGE  TO  THE  HOLY  LAND.  333 

iting  Ireland  or  his  relations  who  still  lived  there, 
Father  McKenna  could  not  resist  the  impulse  to  see  as 
much  of  both  as  his  time  and  strength  permitted. 
The  four  weeks  he  spent  in  Ireland  were  therefore  a 
time  given  to  much  travelling.  Our  diary  shows  that 
the  aged  friar  journeyed  through  nearly  all  the  island 
and  visited  nearly  all  the  convents  of  the  Dominican 
Fathers.  But  Maghera  and  Dublin,  where  many  of 
his  people  now  lived,  seem  to  have  demanded  his  prin- 
cipal attention.  From  Maghera  as  a  center  he  visited 
Fallalea  and  through  southeastern  Derry.  From 
Dublin  we  find  him  going  on  several  occasions  to  Tal- 
laght  to  say  mass  over  the  body  of  his  saintly  friend, 
Father  Tom  Burke.  The  last  place  Father  Mc- 
Kenna visited  in  the  Emerald  Isle  was  Cork,  where  his 
•Irish  brethren  had  invited  him  to  be  their  guest  of 
honor  for  August  4,  the  feast  of  Saint  Dominic. 

Those  who  saw  Father  McKenna  at  this  time  not 
only  felt  that  he  had  unduly  taxed  his  strength  by  ex- 
cessive travelling,  but  feared  lest  the  result  might  be 
serious.  At  Cork  he  was  too  fatigued  to  enjoy  even 
the  celebration  in  honor  of  his  Order's  founder. 
Yet  he  went  on  to  Queenstown  that  same  evening  and 
rose  before  four  o'clock  the  next  morning  to  say  mass 
before  sailing  on  the  staunch  ship  "  Campania "  for 
New  York.  The  rest  which  he  was  able  to  take  aboard 
the  "  Campania,"  together  with  his  strong  constitution, 
brought  about  a  rapid  recovery  of  the  good  priest, 
and  by  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  New  York,  Satur- 
day, August  11,  he  was  completely  restored. 

Of  Father  McKenna's  previous  journeys  abroad  we 
have  only  the  most  meager  and  incomplete  accounts; 
but  of  this  one,  which  he  always  considered  the  greatest 


334  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

privilege  granted  him  by  his  province,  we  possess,  thanks 
to  his  companion,  a  rather  full  diary.  Another  rea- 
son for  following  the  great  friar  in  this  pilgrimage 
and  tour  with  such  minuteness  of  detail  was  that,  to 
the  mind  of  the  writer,  they  place  in  clear  light  the 
striking  combination  of  the  spiritual  and  the  natural, 
of  deep  piety  and  natural  goodness,  for  which  he  was 
noted.  Indeed,  these  qualities  united  with  the  holy 
man's  consuming  zeal  and  broad  charity  to  give  him 
that  charming  character  which  enabled  him  to  wield  so 
extraordinary  an  influence  over  others. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

THE  HOLY  NAME  SOCIETY  AND  THE  ROSARY 
CONFRATERNITY. 

(1906-1911) 

THERE  were  those  who  thought  that  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  might  now  seek  some  repose  from  his  apostolic 
labors.  But  it  was  not  so.  For,  possibly  remember- 
ing the  command  of  Leo  XIII  to  die  in  the  harness, 
as  well  as  the  words  of  encouragement  he  had  so  lately 
received  from  Pius  X — certainly  urged  on  by  the  im- 
pulse of  the  inspiration  he  had  drawn  from  his  pil- 
grimage to  the  Holy  Land — ,  the  missionary  abated 
not  an  iota  in  his  zeal  to  save  souls. 

A  few  days  after  his  return  to  America  we  find  him, 
at  the  request  of  Archbishop  Farley,  the  future  Car- 
dinal of  New  York,  giving  a  course  of  conferences  to 
the  Dominican  Sisters  at  Sparkill,  in  that  diocese,  and 
immediately  following,  a  retreat  to  the  sisters  of  the 
same  order  at  Blauvelt.  These  spiritual  exercises, 
indeed,  were  but  the  beginning  of  a  renewed  aposto- 
late  that,  advanced  as  he  was  in  age,  was  to  continue 
for  more  than  eight  years — years  that  were,  in  a  sense, 
a  period  of  even  more  extraordinary  activity  than  that 
which  had  characterized  his  previous  priestly  life. 
Father  McKenna's  labors  during  this  time  were  so 
severe  and  unremitting  that  many  felt  that  he  must 
have  drawn  strength  from  on  high.  In  fact,  at  a 
time  of  life  when  the  majority  of  men  have  long  since 
lost  their  grasp  on  the  public  mind  and  have  passed 

335 


336  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

into  oblivion,  the  Dominican  friar  seemed  to  grow  in 
esteem  and  popularity  before  the  world,  and  to  wield 
even  a  stronger  influence  for  the  good  of  religion — 
especially  among  men. 

Many  reasons  may  be  assigned  for  this  uncommon 
phenomenon.  Among  them  not  the  least  was  the 
blessing  of  heaven.  For  the  grand  old  man  assidu- 
ously continued  his  habits  of  prayer  and  meditation,  of 
humility  and  mortification,  not  merely  that  he  might 
increase  in  personal  sanctity,  but  that  the  fruit  of  his 
toil  might  be  the  salvation  of  others.  God  could  hardly 
fail  to  reward  such  noble  efforts  even  in  this  life.  But 
to  this  spiritual  reason  for  the  good  priest's  growth  in 
the  affections  of  the  people  at  an  age  when  men  are 
usually  forgotten,  must  be  added  others  in  the  nat- 
ural order.  Such,  for  instance,  were  'his  continued 
habits  of  reading  and  study,  his  keen  interest  in  all 
things  that  made  for  good,  which  not  only  kept  him 
young  in  mind  and  spirit,  abreast  of  the  times  and  in 
sympathy  with  the  world,  but  preserved  his  mental 
vigor  and  alertness.  For,  as  there  is  nothing  more 
pitiful  than  the  decrepitude  and  dotage  of  a  man  who 
has  been  a  tower  of  strength  and  influence,  so  is  there 
nothing  that  delights  us  more  than  the  spectacle  of 
old  age  still  retaining  the  mental  robustness  of  youth, 
still  continuing  to  be  eminently  useful,  still  embracing 
the  world  with  Christ-like  affection.  Pre-eminently 
such  an  old  man  was  the  Rev.  Charles  H.  McKenna 
during  the  last  decade  of  his  life. 

From  the  time  the  missionary  returned  from  his 
pilgrimage  to  Palestine,  his  superiors,  wishing  to  pro- 
long the  days  of  his  usefulness  and  fearing  lest  the 
hard  drudgery  of  the  confessional  and  the  forceful 


THE  HOLY  NAME  AND  THE  ROSARY.         337 

preaching  required  in  his  former  work  might  break 
his  health,  did  not  often  permit  him  to  take  part  in  the 
great  parochial  missions  given  by  the  fathers.  Yet 
occasionally,  when  the  missions  were  particularly  nu- 
merous, he  was  requested  to  deliver  some  of  the  more 
notable  sermons.  On  such  occasions  he  never  failed  to 
show  his  old-time  fire  and  force,  as  well  as  to  draw 
immense  audiences. 

But  though  the  earnest  apostle  was  now  practically 
freed  from  the  work  of  the  missions,  he  did  not  waste 
his  time  or  suffer  his  zeal,  his  spirit  or  his  interest  to 
become  atrophied  through  idleness.  He  gave  himself 
more  than  ever  to  the  apostolates  of  the  Rosary  and 
the  Holy  Name.  As  interest  in  the  Holy  Name  So- 
ciety rapidly  increased,  and  its  propaganda  and  that  of 
the  Rosary  were  now  the  friar's  almost  exclusive  occu- 
pation, it  brought  him  calls  from  all  directions,  caus- 
ing his  journeys  to  be  more  frequent  than  those 
through  which  we  have  followed  him  in  previous 
chapters. 

Although  the  two  apostolates  went  hand  in  hand, 
and  were  conducted  with  perhaps  equal  zest,  we  shall 
speak  first  of  the  good  priest's  labors  in  the  cause  of 
the  Holy  Name  Society.  This  we  do  not  only  for  the 
sake  of  giving  a  clearer  idea  of  his  efforts  to  promote 
devotion  towards  both  our  Lord  and  His  Blessed 
Mother,  but  because  the  Holy  Name  was  attracting 
greater  attention  at  this  period.  In  the  case  of  each 
society,  however,  by  reason  of  the  impossibility  of  fol- 
lowing the  zealous  friar  in  detail  through  his  frequent 
journeys,  it  will  be  necessary  to  confine  the  account 
to  a  brief  outline  of  the  leading  features  of  his  labors 
rather  than  to  attempt  a  complete  and  connected 
historical  narration  of  them. 

23 


338  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

The  name  of  Jesus  was  sweetest  music  to  the  ears 
of  Father  McKenna.  It  brought  joy  to  his  heart  in 
moments  of  sorrow — courage,  when  he  was  tempted 
to  despondency.  Always  a  source  of  comfort  to  him,  it 
was  especially  so  in  his  declining  years.  No  greater 
happiness  could  have  been  given  him  than  to  end  his 
days  in  laboring  to  promote  honor  and  devotion  towards 
the  sacred  name  he  so  reverenced.  It  could  hardly 
have  been  otherwise,  for  did  he  not  know  that  "our 
help  is  in  the  name  of  the  Lord"  and  that  "there  is 
no  other  name  under  heaven  given  to  men  whereby  we 
must  be  saved"? 

Besides,  while  all  the  devotions  of  his  Order  were 
dear  to  Father  McKenna,  preaching  that  of  the  Holy 
Name  was  especially  so,  since  it  has  been  a  heritage 
of  the  Friars  Preacher  for  more  than  six  hundred 
years.  Again,  as  the  missionary  knew,  the  favorite 
hymn  of  the  Order's  founder,  Saint  Dominic,  was  the 
Jesu,  nostra  redemptio,  Amor  et  desiderium  (Jesus, 
our  redemption,  love  and  desire),  which  he  was  wont 
to  sing  on  his  journeys  through  old  Languedoc.  Thus 
not  even  in  the  palmiest  days  of  the  Order  did  any 
Dominican  ever  preach  the  Holy  Name  or  its  cause 
more  eloquently,  more  effectively  or  more  constantly 
than  did  our  American  friar.  Perhaps  Saint  Domi- 
nic's love  for  the  Jesu,  nostra  redemptio,  Amor  et  de- 
siderium was  not  a  more  potent  element  in  his  extra- 
ordinary life  than  was  Father  McKenna's  zeal  for  the 
Holy  Name  in  his  active  ministry.  It  had  been  so 
from  1870.  Now,  therefore,  that  he  was  free  to  give 
himself  to  its  apostolate  he  did  so  with  a  zest  and  an 
earnestness  that  neither  age  nor  infirmity  could  chill. 

The  missionary's  experience  with  the  world  of  men 


THE  HOLY  NAME  AND  THE  ROSARY.         339 

in  the  days  of  his  own  young  manhood,  no  less  than 
in  his  priestly  ministry,  taught  him  that,  although  the 
divine  name  of  Jesus  is  grievously  profaned,  this  is 
often  done  by  Catholics  thoughtlessly  and  without 
malice.  In  this  fact  he  found  much  consolation,  for  it 
showed  him  that  the  evil  habit,  however  deep-rooted,  is 
not  incurable.  It  'made  him  believe  that,  could  the 
Holy  Name  Society  be  established  in  all  the  parishes 
of  the  country,  the  Church  would  find  therein  an  effec- 
tive remedy  for  a  widespread  scandal  deeply  deplored 
by  her.  The  same  experiences  taught  him  that  per- 
haps there  is  no  religious  confraternity  in  the  Church 
which  makes  so  strong  or  so  direct  an  appeal  to  the 
men  of  the  United  States.  We  have  seen  how,  in 
union  with  his  religious  brethren,  the  holy  man  strove 
to  secure  the  removal  of  the  obstacle  to  the  society's 
growth  that  came  from  canon  law,  as  well  as  to  tear 
down  the  barriers  of  indifference  and  coldness  in  its  *, 
regard  which  were  too  prevalent  in  parts  of  America. 
These  difficulties  being  now  finally  overcome — thanks 
to  no  one  quite  so  much  as  to  himself — ,  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  possibly  desired  nothing  more  ardently  than  to 
see,  before  his  death,  a  vigorous  Holy  Name  Society 
existing  in  every  parish  in  the  country,  binding  to- 
gether the  Catholic  men  of  the  United  States  in  the 
common  cause  of  promoting  honor  and  reverence  for 
the  sacred  names  of  God  and  Christ,  and  of  putting 
down  profanity  and  indecent  language. 

While  it  would  be  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  the 
zealous  apostle  attained  as  full  a  measure  of  success 
as  he  desired,  his  achievements  in  this  regard  were  such 
that  they  must  forever  crown  his  name  with  glory. 
Largely  as  a  result  of  his  labors,  the  parish  in  the 


340  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

United  States  today  that  is  without  its  Holy  Name 
Society  is  almost  an  exception,  and  is  regarded  as  lack- 
ing one  of  the  most  effective  means  for  promoting  the 
spiritual  welfare  of  its  men.  In  no  part  of  the  world 
has  the  society  ever  attained  so  large  a  membership  or 
been  productive  of  so  much  good  as  in  the  United 
States.  The  Order  of  Saint  Dominic  has  many  glori- 
ous deeds  to  its  credit ;  and  not  the  least  of  these  is  the 
great  Holy  Name  Society  it  has  built  up  in  our  Amer- 
ican republic — an  accomplishment  due  in  no  small  part 
to  the  zeal  and  the  preaching  of  the  subject  of  this 
biography.  As  long  as  the  Holy  Name  Society  sur- 
vives in  the  New.  World,  so  long  must  the  memory  of 
the  great  Dominican  friar  continue  not  merely  to  live, 
but  also  to  be  cherished  in  the  hearts  of  American 
Catholics. 

Another  aim  that  Father  McKenna  had  in  view  in 
his  propagation  of  devotion  to  the  Holy  Name  was  to 
quicken  our  men  in  the  practice  of  their  religion.  In 
his  long  experience  as  a  missionary  and  director  of 
souls  he  had  learned  that  the  members  of  the  society 
constituted  the  best  elements  in  a  parish,  and  also  that 
parishes  in  which  it  was  established  showed  to  better 
spiritual  advantage  than  those  without  it.  He  saw, 
furthermore,  that  the  society  brought  men  to  the  sac- 
raments more  regularly;  that  it  was  an  excellent  means 
of  promoting  frequent  communion — a  matter  in  which 
he  was  deeply  interested.  Nor  was  this  all.  A  keen 
observer,  the  pious  friar  saw  that,  outside  the  Church, 
the  trend  of  the  age  is  materialistic  and  atheistic;  that 
the  spirit  of  commercialism  is  becoming  dominant 
everywhere.  He  realized  that  membership  in  the 
Holy  Name  Society  would  curb  such  a  tendency  in 


THE  HOLY  NAME  AND  THE  ROSARY.         341 

Catholics,  as  well  as  beget  in  them  habits  of  honesty 
and  truthfulness;  that  the  faith  which  they  would  thus 
profess  in  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  the  reverence 
which  they  would  manifest  for  religion  and  God,  would 
be  an  effective  weapon  against  the  spirit  of  irreligion 
and  the  scurrilous  ways  of  those  with  whom  they  come 
into  contact.  All  this  added  zest  to  his  propaganda 
and  sustained  him  in  his  tireless  activity  in  behalf  of 
the  society. 

For  years  the  missionary  had  realized  the  need  of 
current  literature  on  the  subject  of  the  Holy  Name; 
that  is,  of  an  organ  to  champion  its  cause,  to  arouse  a 
broader  interest  in  it,  to  make  its  purpose  better 
known,  as  well  as  to  form  a  bond  of  more  intimate 
union  between  its  members  and  to  keep  them  informed 
of  its  progress.  Such  a  publication,  he  felt,  he  had 
neither  the  time  nor  the  temperament  to  edit  himself. 
Yet  he  prayed  that  it  might  come  into  existence. 
Shortly  after  his  return  from  the  Holy  Land,  his  heart 
was  rejoiced  to  learn  that  preparations  were  being 
made  for  the  publication  of  the  present  Holy  Name 
Journal.  Always  ready  to  aid  a  good  cause,  he  pre- 
pared a  paper  on  the  origin,  purpose  and  progress  of 
the  Holy  Name  Society  which  appeared  in  the  first 
issue,  May,  1907,  thus  contributing  what  he  called  his 
"  mite  "  to  the  success  of  the  new  adventure. 

As  Father  McKenna  had  anticipated — for  he  was 
generally  right  in  his  views — ,  The  Holy  Name  Jour- 
nal became  at  once,  as  it  has  continued  to  be,  a  power 
for  the  good  of  the  society.  Its  success,  we  may  be- 
lieve, was  due  in  no  small  measure  to  the  impetus  given 
it  by  his  paper  appearing  in  the  initial  issue,  the  deep 
concern  he  did  not  cease  to  show  in  it  until  called  to 


342  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

his  reward,  and  the  occasional  contributions  with  which 
he  honored  its  columns. 

It  has  been  seen  how  the  missionary  not  only  wel- 
comed the  formation  of  diocesan  unions  of  the  Holy 
Name,  but  did  all  in  his  power  to  encourage  their  mul- 
tiplication throughout  the  land,  believing  them  to  be  a 
most  efficacious  means  of  arousing  interest  in  the  so- 
ciety and  of  advancing  religion.  So,  too, — and  for 
the  same  purpose — he  spared  no  efforts  to  foster  the 
custom  of  holding  Holy  Name  rallies  in  cities  and 
large  towns.  Through  the  columns  of  The  Holy 
Name  Journal  and  other  Catholic  papers,  as  well  as 
from  the  pulpit,  Father  McKenna  ceased  not  to  advo- 
cate both  of  these  means  of  popularizing  the  confra- 
ternity and  accelerating  its  growth.  The  result  of  the 
propaganda  we  all  know.  The  diocesan  unions  multi- 
plied apace,  while  the  rallies  in  the  great  cities  of  the 
country  became  yearly  events  of  national  importance, 
and  elicited  the  highest  encomiums  from  the  public 
press.  Instead  of  the  former  thousands,  tens  of  thou- 
sands now  marched  in  these  parades  through  streets 
lined  with  enormous  crowds.  Tremendous  was  the 
impression  produced  on  the  public  mind  by  these  great 
demonstrations  which  were  not  only  solemn  and  cour- 
ageous professions  of  faith  in  the  divinity  of  Christ, 
but  as  well  protestations  against  any  profanation  of 
the  sacred  name  of  the  Lord. 

To  be  asked  to  preach  on  the  occasion  of  these  ral- 
lies was  considered  no  small  honor.  But  no  ecclesias- 
tic was  quite  so  much  in  demand  for  such  sermons  as 
the  venerable  Dominican.  The  people  of  every  local- 
ity seemed  anxious  to  see  and  hear  him  again.  Indeed, 
it  was  not  possible  for  him  to  accept  all  requests  thus 


THE  HOLY  NAME  AND  THE  ROSARY.         343 

made  for  his  services.  Yet  many  and  enthusiastic 
were  the  audiences  he  held  enraptured  by  his  superb 
oratory  at  such  gatherings. 

Rapid  as  had  been  the  multiplication  of  Holy  Name 
confraternities  under  the  stimulus  of  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  apostolate  during  the  period  from  1900  to 
1906,  their  subsequent  growth  was  still  more  phenom- 
enal. While  the  "Apostle  of  the  Holy  Name,"  as  he 
was  called,  was  not  often  asked  to  lend  a  hand  of  help 
on  the  missions,  he  was  in  constant  demand  for  Holy 
Name  triduums  or  retreats,  either  to  inspire  the  men 
with  greater  vigor  or  to  establish  the  society  in  some 
new  locality.  These  requests  the  zealous  priest  rarely 
declined — never  when  it  was  at  all  possible  to  accept — , 
although  they  carried  him  into  almost  every  part  of 
the  country.  The  great  increase  in  his  Holy  Name 
work  compelled  him  to  obtain  assistance  not  only  for 
his  correspondence,  but  for  triduums  for  the  society 
and  the  establishment  of  new  branches. 

To  advance  the  society  so  dear  to  him,  as  also  to 
increase  its  membership  and  to  make  it  more  prolific 
in  good,  nothing  was  too  laborious  or  too  trivial  for 
the  energetic  apostle  to  undertake.  He  had  cease- 
lessly studied  ways  and  means  of  winning  souls  to  God 
through  the  missions.  He  now  displayed  the  same  in- 
genuity in  accomplishing  the  same  end  through  the 
Holy  Name  Society.  Eloquent  as  he  had  ever  been 
when  preaching  to  the  great  throngs  that  attended  his 
missions,  he  never  rose  to  sublimer  heights  of  oratory 
than  when  he  now  addressed  men  of  the  Holy  Name. 
Realizing  that  as  the  twig  is  trained,  so  it  grows  into 
a  tree,  he  continued  to  establish  junior  Holy  Name 
branches,  not  merely  that  they  might  be  feeders  to  the 


344  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

senior  societies  of  men,  but  serve  as  a  means  to  form 
youth  to  a  righteous  life. 

With  all  this  he  did  not  cease  to  send  letters  of  ap- 
peal to  those  parts  where  he  had  not  yet  been  given 
a  free  hand,  until  by  the  end  of  the  period  of  which  we 
are  speaking,  there  was  scarcely  a  diocese  east  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  in  which  he  was  not  authorized  to 
found  and  preach  the  Holy  Name  broadcast;  few  in 
which  it  had  not  taken  deep  root.  At  the  same  time, 
he  sought  to  enlist  the  sympathies  of  the  different  re- 
ligious orders  in  his  apostolate,  whether  on  their  mis- 
sions or  in  their  other  spheres  of  activity,  and  pro- 
cured for  them  ample  powers  to  act  in  its  cause.  Nor 
did  he  neglect  our  Catholic  colleges  and  seminaries,  for 
he  wished  to  see  the  society  established  in  all  of  these. 

Year  by  year,  under  the  impulse  of  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  tireless  zeal,  the  Holy  Name  Society  con- 
tinued to  gain  in  numbers,  influence  and  popularity. 
So  constantly,  in  fact,  was  he  at  his  work  that  people 
could  not  understand  how  he  stood  the  strain.  Rarely 
was  he  to  be  found  at  home — scarcely  ever  on  Sunday, 
unless  he  was  preaching  there.  Far  and  wide  he 
traversed  and  re-traversed  the  country  in  the  cause  of 
God. 

Father  McKenna's  efforts  to  arouse  or  deepen  in- 
terest in  the  Holy  Name  Society  may  be  said  to  have 
culminated  in  1911.  That  year  also  brought  to  him 
the  realization  of  a  long  cherished  desire — a  congress 
of  the  Holy  Name  in  the  United  States.  When  ar- 
rangements had  been  concluded  for  the  assembling  of 
the  congress  in  Baltimore,  October  16-17,  immediately 
after  the  dual  celebration  in  honor  of  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons, the  holy  man's  heart  was  so  filled  with  joy  that 
he  wrote: 


THE  HOLY  NAME  AND  THE  ROSARY.         345 

"  I  can  only  thank  God  that  I  have  lived  to  see  the  day  when  a 
National  Congress  of  our  Holy  Name  Societies  is  about  to  be 
convened.  The  thought  of  this  has  been  in  my  mind  and  in  my 
prayers  for  years.  So  far  as  it  depends  on  human  efforts,  we 
must  look  for  its  success  to  the  approbation  of  our  bishops  and 
to  the  faithful  co-operation  of  our  zealous  spiritual  directors. 
You  will  have  both,  I  am  sure.  Were  I  to  write  a  book,  I  could 
not  say  enough  about  the  zeal,  desire  and  determination  that  I 
have  personally  witnessed  on  the  part  of  our  bishops  and  priests 
to  leave  nothing  undone  in  making  the  men  of  America  loyal 
Catholics.  They  have  chosen  the  Holy  Name  Society  as  the 
practical  method  for  accomplishing  this  end.  As  to  the  real 
success  of  the  Holy  Name  Congress,  we  must  turn  to  God  and 
unceasingly  invoke  His  blessing.  This  is  merely  the  old  rule 
of  St.  Augustine — to  work  as  though  everything  depended  on 
our  work  and  to  pray  as  though  everything  depended  on  prayer. 

"  May  God  bless  the  Holy  Name  Congress.  May  it  be  con- 
vened not  because  other  congresses  are  held,  but  that  it  may 
result  in  infusing  new  life  into  every  Holy  Name  Society 
throughout  the  country.  May  it  be  a  call  to  arms  in  which  all 
the  Catholic  men  of  America  will  enlist  under  the  standard  of  the 
Holy  Name  to  fight  the  irreligious  spirit  of  our  day,  to  destroy 
the  revolt  of  Socialism  against  authority.  May  the  Holy  Name 
Congress  bring  a  special  blessing  of  God  on  the  men  and  on  the 
Church  of  America."1 

As  religion  was  the  inspiration  of  all  the  pious 
priest's  actions,  his  joy  was  enhanced  by  the  blessing 
sent  the  Congress  by  Pius  X  and  the  Most  Reverend 
Hyacinth  Cormier — the  General  of  his  Order,  under 
whose  special  care  the  Holy  Name  Society  is  placed. 
Not  merely  was  Father  McKenna  invited  to  take  part 
in  the  Congress;  he  was  requested  to  make  one  of  the 
principal  addresses  to  the  hierarchy  and  the  delegates 

i  Letter  to  Rev.  John  T.  McNicholas,  O.P.,  April  15,  1911,  in  The  Holy 
Name  Journal,  May,  1911. 


346  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

— an  honor  doubtless  bestowed  upon  him  not  only  in 
recognition  of  his  long  and  eminent  services  in  the 
cause  of  the  society,  but  also  because  of  his  oratorical 
ability.  No  speaker  at  the  Congress  received  a 
warmer  welcome  than  he.  When  he  arose  to  make  his 
address,  the  distinguished  audience  stood  for  a  moment 
to  testify  their  reverence  for  the  venerable  man  who 
had  done  so  much  for  the  Church  of  America. 

Such,  in  outline,  were  Father  McKenna's  labors  in 
behalf  of  the  Holy  Name  Society  at  this  time.  Be- 
cause all  obstacles  had  been  removed,  his  efforts  were 
bearing  far  more  abundant  fruit.  Long  before,  the 
country  at  large  had  bestowed  upon  him  the  richly 
merited  title  of  "Apostle  of  the  Holy  Name  in  the 
United  States,"  an  honor  which  his  humility  caused 
him  to  seek  to  disclaim,  but  which  many  years  of  faith- 
ful service  forced  him  to  accept — an  honor  which,  in- 
deed, he  would  still  have  deserved  had  he  done  no  more 
for  the  society  than  he  accomplished  during  the  five 
years  which  we  have  just  sketched. 

A  potent  factor  in  the  amazing  growth  of  the  Holy 
Name  Society  was  the  decree  of  Pius  X  regarding 
frequent  and  daily  communion,  which  was  probably  de- 
signed to  destroy  that  last  remnant  of  Jansenism  still 
visible — particularly  among  men — in  the  custom  of  re- 
ceiving the  Blessed  Sacrament  only  at  long  intervals. 
The  men  of  the  Holy  Name,  it  soon  became  apparent, 
were  more  faithful  than  others  to  this  sacred  duty. 
Indeed,  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  inspir- 
ing and  edifying  spectacle  than  some  hundreds  of  men, 
with  bowed  heads  and  reverent  demeanor,  approaching 
the  communion-rail  in  a  body.  Yet  this  could  be  wit- 
nessed many  times  a  year  in  those  churches  in  which 


THE  HOLY  NAME  AND  THE  ROSARY.         347 

confraternities  of  the  Holy  Name  were  established. 
This  naturally  attracted  the  notice  of  pastors  and 
helped  to  arouse  their  interest  in  the  society. 

Father  McKenna  in  his  extraordinary  devotion  to 
the  Holy  Name  Society  did  not  neglect  the  apostolate 
of  the  Rosary,  but  preached  it  no  less  zealously  and 
constantly  than  before.  While  he  established  more 
Holy  Name  societies  than  Rosary  confraternities  at 
this  time,  one  of  the  reasons  was  that  the  latter  existed 
previously  in  more  churches,  and  thus  did  not  need  to 
be  founded  in  many  of  the  parishes  to  which  he  was 
now  called  in  the  interest  of  the  Holy  Name  Society. 
Wherever  Father  McKenna  went,  he  sought  to  spread 
and  intensify  the  salutary  devotion  of  the  Rosary 
among  the  people — urged  them  to  make  it  a  part  of 
their  daily  lives.  If  he  did  not  find  a  confraternity  in 
a  church,  he  obtained  the  consent  of  the  pastor  to  es- 
tablish it.  If  he  found  it  in  existence,  he  strove  to 
further  its  good  work  by  encouraging  all  the  congre- 
gation to  become  members,  inculcating  fidelity  to  its 
ideals,  pointing  out  the  graces  and  spiritual  advantages 
that  come  to  those  who  thus  place  themselves  under 
the  patronage  of  the  Mother  of  God. 

In  the  years  of  his  boyhood  and  early  manhood  the 
Rosary  had  been  Charles  McKenna's  favorite  prayer. 
When  he  became  a  Dominican,  quite  naturally,  his 
devotion  to  it  was  intensified.  It  was  so  from  the 
days  of  his  novitiate.  For  was  he  not  aware  of  the 
Rosary's  intimate  association  with  Saint  Dominic? 
Did  he  not  recognize  in  it  one  of  the  most  splendid 
heritages  of  his  Order?  Did  he  not  know  that  some 
of  the  most  glorious  pages  in  the  history  of  the 
Friars  Preacher  are  precisely  those  which  treat  of 


348  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

their  preaching  of  its  apostolate,  and  that  the  true 
son  of  Dominic  must  always  be  a  true  son  of  Mary, 
devoted  to  her  beads?  The  propaganda  of  the  Rosary, 
like  that  of  the  Holy  Name,  was  part  and  parcel 
of  his  life.  That  the  membership  of  the  Rosary 
Society  has  reached  such  enormous  numbers  in  the 
United  States  is  due  in  no  small  measure  to  Father 
McKenna's  zeal  in  its  behalf. 

As  "out  of  the  fulness  of  the  heart  the  mouth 
speaketh,"  so  some  of  Father  McKenna's  best  preach- 
ing at  this  period  was  on  the  Rosary.  Like  the  Holy 
Name,  it  was  a  subject  that  appealed  to  his  heart  and 
never  failed  to  stir  him  to  the  heights  of  eloquence. 
While,  indeed,  at  times  in  the  pulpit  he  rivalled  the 
matchless  oratory  of  Lacordaire  or  Father  Tom 
Burke;  in  his  propaganda  of  devotion  to  the  Rosary 
he  was  scarcely  less  zealous  and  tirelessly  active  than 
had  been  his  confrere  of  the  middle  ages,  Alan  de  la 
Roche.  At  this  period,  too,  he  gave  many  retreats, 
preached  many  triduums,  to  members  of  the  Rosary 
Society.  And  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  the  families 
of  his  most  intimate  friends  the  pious  custom  obtained 
of  making  the  recitation  of  the  beads  a  part  of  their 
daily  evening  prayers. 

As  the  great  Dominican  led  a  crowded  church  in  the 
recitation  of  the  beads  on  the  occasion  of  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Rosary,  or  while  giving  a  triduum  or  re- 
treat to  members  of  the  Society,  the  scene  recalled  the 
words  of  our  popular  American  poet  in  Evangeline: 

"Then  came  the  evening  service.     Tapers  gleamed  from  the 

altar ; 

Fervent  and  deep  was  the  voice  of  the  priest,  and  the  people 
responded, 


THE  HOLY  NAME  AND  THE  ROSARY.         349 

Not  with  their  lips  alone,  but  their  hearts ;  and  the  Ave  Maria 
Sang  they,  and  fell  on  their  knees,  and  their  souls,  with  devo- 
tion translated, 
Rose  on  the  ardor  of  prayer,  like  Elijah  ascending  to  heaven." 

Thus  although,  for  the  reasons  given,  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  name  has  not  been  so  conspicuously  or  so 
intimately  associated  in  the  public  mind  with  the 
Rosary  as  with  the  Holy  Name,  he  deserves  the  title 
of  "Apostle  of  the  Rosary"  not  less  than  that  of 
"Apostle  of  the  Holy  Name."  Many  would  add  to 
these  titles  that  of  "Apostle  or  Prince  of  Parochial 
Missions  in  America,"  to  which  they  claim  he  is  en- 
titled by  reason  of  his  long  service  on  them  (prac- 
tically forty  years),  the  extraordinary  zeal  and  elo- 
quence he  devoted  to  them,  the  great  good  he  accom- 
plished through  them.  In  truth,  all  things  considered, 
it  must  be  said  that  the  holy  friar  perhaps  stands 
almost  without  a  peer  in  this  fruitful  field  of  apostolic 
labor. 

The  Dominican  Fathers  of  the  California  province 
had  often  invited  Father  McKenna  to  preach  or  to 
give  missions  in  the  far  west.  Happy  as  he  would 
have  been  to  accede  to  these  requests,  his  engagements 
at  home  had  rendered  it  impossible  for  him  to  do  so. 
In  the  December  of  1908,  however,  at  the  solicitation 
of  the  western  provincial,  he  started  for  San  Francisco, 
travelling  by  easy  stages.  During  the  two  months  he 
remained  on  the  Pacific  coast,  he  preached  from  Seattle 
to  San  Diego,  everywhere  meeting  with  great  success. 

Active  as  was  Father  McKenna  in  the  interests  of 
his  two  cherished  societies,  he  found  time  even  at  this 
period  to  busy  himself  with  other  matters  that  merit 
the  reader's  attention — such,  for  instance,  as  giving 


350  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

short  courses  of  conferences  or  special  sermons  to  vari- 
ous communities  of  sisters.  As  has  been  noted  in  a 
previous  chapter,  the  pious  priest  had  long  been  much 
sought  after  for  such  work,  but  perhaps  the  demand 
for  his  services  in  this  sphere  had  never  been  so  great 
as  now,  when  his  wisdom,  prudence  and  holiness  had 
been  tried  in  the  crucible  of  time.  Strong  and  tactful, 
yet  the  incarnation  of  gentleness  and  kindness,  Father 
McKenna  was  peculiarly  fitted  to  deal  with  questions 
of  the  soul.  He  had  a  way,  peculiar  to  himself,  of 
calming  the  consciences  of  Christ's  spouses,  of  giving 
them  peace  of  mind,  of  guiding  them  in  the  path  of 
perfection.  Few  confessors  have  been  so  sought  after 
by  this  class  of  the  faithful,  or  have  so  implicitly  pos- 
sessed their  confidence.  Generations  must  pass  before 
the  memory  of  his  fatherly  assistance  will  be  forgotten 
by  the  nuns  of  this  country. 

Apart  from  his  Rosary  and  Holy  Name  work,  the 
assistance  he  gave  the  missionaries  from  time  to  time, 
and  the  occasional  small  missions  he  conducted  him- 
self until  as  late  as  1910,  Father  McKenna  preached 
extensively  and  gave  numerous  retreats,  particularly 
in  the  summer  months,  during  the  period  of  which  we 
now  write.  He  was  still  in  great  demand  as  the  orator 
for  church  dedications  or  other  special  occasions  and 
still  continued  to  deliver  many  lectures.  Not  infre- 
quently these  were  on  his  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy 
Land.  As  his  mind  remained  as  alert  as  in  his 
younger  days,  his  memory  as  retentive,  his  reminis- 
cences of  the  holy  places  he  then  visited  served  him 
well  on  whatever  topic  or  occasion  he  spoke.  All  who 
heard  him  were  amazed  to  see  how  he  retained  his  men- 
tal vigor,  how  his  wit  had  lost  none  of  its  sparkling 
humor,  how  he  continued  to  profit  by  all  he  saw. 


THE  HOLY  NAME  AND  THE  ROSARY.         351 

Withal,  he  retained  a  keen  interest  in  the  other 
religious  confraternities  of  his  Order,  such  as  the  An- 
gelic Warfare  and  the  Blessed  Imelda  Sodality.  He 
not  only  kept  up  his  habits  of  reading  and  study,  but 
made  continual  efforts  to  better  the  spiritual  work  of 
his  pen.  In  1913  he  brought  out  The  Treasures  of 
the  Rosary,  a  book  that,  with  its  clear,  simple  style 
and  spiritual  touch,  is  destined  to  have  its  part  in 
making  his  apostolate  for  the  society  of  the  same  name 
live  long  after  him.  Of  this  work  Cardinal  Gibbons 
says  in  his  preface: 

"  Father  McKenna  has  indeed  conferred  a  real  benefit  on  the 
English-speaking  Catholic  world  by  this  book  of  devout  reflec- 
tions on  the  mysteries  and  treasures  of  the  Rosary.  Great  mul- 
titudes, both  of  the  clergy  and  the  laity,  will  sincerely  rejoice 
that  he  has  left  to  them  in  permanent  form  something  of  those 
inspired  thoughts  and  words  that  have  been  instrumental  during 
his  long  and  fruitful  life  in  directing  so  many  thousands  into  the 
ways  of  holiness  and  salvation.  .  .  .  Heartily,  then,  will  Catho- 
lics of  all  classes  welcome  this  volume  of  Father  McKenna's,  in 
which  the  Rosary,  with  its  history,  mysteries  and  treasures,  is 
clearly  and  beautifully  set  before  us.  Thoughtful  use  of  the 
book  will  doubtless  make  the  Rosary  better  known  and  better 
appreciated,  and  will  thereby  contribute  not  a  little  to  a  fuller 
knowledge  and  a  more  ardent  love  of  the  ever  blessed  Mother  of 
our  Saviour,  the  Queen  of  the  Rosary  and  our  advocate  with 
God." 

One  of  Father  McKenna's  greatest  consolations  in 
his  old  age  was  his  knowledge  of  the  good  for  souls 
done  by  the  zealous  priests  whom  he  had  enabled,  by 
counsel  or  financial  assistance,  to  attain  their  sublime 
station.  This  not  only  sustained  him,  but  spurred  him 
on,  in  his  efforts  to  foster  vocations  to  the  altar.  At 


352  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

no  other  period  of  his  life,  in  fact,  did  he  accomplish 
more  in  this  work  of  supreme  charity.  Nothing  gave 
him  greater  pleasure  than  to  preach  at  the  first  mass 
of  some  young  priest  whom  he  had  thus  fathered. 

Thus,  as  the  reader  has  doubtless  remarked,  to  few 
is  it  given  to  labor  so  strenuously  and  so  fruitfully  in 
the  cause  of  souls  at  the  age  Father  McKenna  had 
then  attained.  A  keen  and  observant  clergyman  who 
took  a  particular  interest  in  his  work  at  this  time,  once 
remarked  to  the  writer:  "The  most  zealous  servant  of 
God  might  well  be  content  to  accomplish  in  a  lifetime 
the  good  that  Father  McKenna  accomplished  from 
1906  to  the  end  of  1911  through  the  apostolate  of  the 
Holy  Name." 

As  this  splendid  testimony,  which  we  do  not  believe 
to  be  an  exaggeration,  makes  a  fitting  closing  for  one 
of  the  most  important  chapters  in  Father  McKenna's 
life,  we  may  now  pass  on  to  that  which  will  describe  the 
ending  of  his  active  ministry  for  the  salvation  of  souls. 


VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA  IN  HIS  SEVENTY-EIGHTH  YEAR. 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

A  NOBLE  ENDING. 

(1912-1914) 

ALTHOUGH  Father  McKenna  at  times  felt  that  the 
days  of  his  apostolic  activity  were  drawing  to  a  close, 
even  if  his  life  was  not  near  its  end,  with  that  mag- 
nificent courage  which  had  characterized  the  efforts  of 
his  youth  and  early  manhood  to  attain  the  priesthood 
in  the  Order  of  Saint  Dominic,  he  determined  to  spend 
his  remaining  strength  in  the  cause  of  the  God  who 
had  given  it  to  him.  Thus  to  trace  this  last  round  of 
his  labors  for  the  salvation  of  souls  were  but  to  pre- 
sent the  same  picture  with  which,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  the 
reader  has  been  edified  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

Every  year,  after  one  has  passed  the  age  of  three- 
score and  ten,  tells  its  tale  of  change.  So  in  the  life 
of  Father  McKenna  we  have  now  the  additional  edifi- 
cation of  seeing  him  toiling  zealously  and  strenuously 
on  as  a  young  giant  until  well  within  his  eightieth  year. 
Though  his  hair  had  turned  grey  and  he  was  pre- 
maturely aged  in  early  manhood,  now  that  he  was 
really  an  old  man,  he  showed  a  strength  which  one 
would  not  have  expected  to  find  in  one  so  frail  in  ap- 
pearance. While  at  times,  when  worn  out  by  his  un- 
ceasing labors,  the  good  priest  was  somewhat  bowed 
and  his  gate  unsteady,  at  others  he  walked  erect,  with 
an  elastic  step  that  indicated  an  extraordinary  reserve 
force.  Often,  also,  he  seemed  almost  too  feeble  to  get 
into  the  pulpit.  But  when  once  he  was  there,  had 

>A  353 


354  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

slowly  scanned  his  audience,  had  uttered  the  first  few 
words  of  his  discourse,  the  people  forgot  their  pity 
and  their  fear  for  him,  and  fancied  themselves  in  the 
presence  of  a  messenger  from  heaven  who  spoke  to 
them  with  a  power  divine.  In  truth,  like  Saint  Domi- 
nic, he  was  in  every  sense  "  Christ's  hallowed  wrestler," 
gentle  to  man,  but  terrible  to  sin  which  is  the  enemy  of 
man. 

Although  Father  McKenna  did  not  now  attempt 
any  missionary  work,  for  he  felt  that  this  was  beyond 
his  strength,  even  if  he  had  time  for  it,  he  laid  aside 
none  of  his  other  apostolic  activities.  Thus,  as  before, 
he  continued  his  travels  in  the  interest  of  some  one  or 
other  of  his  various  apostolates.  Often  he  so  arranged 
matters  that  he  was  able  to  attend  to  more  than  one 
thing  on  the  same  journey.  It  was  this  systematic 
foresight  that  enabled  him  to  do  so  much,  and  to  do  it 
all  so  well. 

Under  the  impulse  of  the  aged  friar's  propaganda, 
the  growth  of  his  two  cherished  societies  of  the  Holy 
Name  and  the  Rosary  continued  to  be  amazing.  We 
know,  too,  that  the  knowledge  of  the  good  they  ef- 
fected for  the  Church  and  religion  was  a  source  of 
keen  joy  to  him.  One  could  not  well  blame  him, 
humble  as  he  was,  if  he  had  felt  a  little  pride  in  the 
extraordinary  success  of  his  endeavors;  but  of  this 
there  were  few,  if  any,  indications.  To  God,  or  to 
the  superior  qualifications  of  those  who  aided  him  in 
his  work,  rather  than  to  any  merit  of  his  own,  he  at- 
tributed the  phenomenal  increase  in  these  societies. 
There  was  no  jealousy  in  his  make-up  to  prevent  him 
from  rejoicing  at  the  success  of  others — no  pettiness 
to  lessen  his  happiness  at  the  sight  of  good,  by  whom- 


A  NOBLE  ENDING.  355 

soever  it  was  accomplished.  In  all  things  a  man  of 
God,  whatever  made  for  the  glory  of  the  Creator  or 
for  the  salvation  of  souls  gladdened  his  heart.1 

An  additional  word  is  demanded  on  the  Holy  Name, 
as  we  are  now  nearing  the  end  of  its  apostle's  labors 
in  its  behalf.  In  1912  he  had  the  singular  satisfaction 
of  establishing  the  society  in  the  Ohio  State  Peniten- 
tiary. Some  years  previously  he  was  rejoiced  to  see 
the  confraternity  begin  to  spread  along  the  Pacific 
coast,  while  prior  to  that  year  he  had  the  consolation  . 
of  knowing  that  it  had  begun  to  gain  a  strong  hold  in 
English-speaking  Canada.  It  was  as  wine  to  his  soul 
to  hear  that  on  June  1,  1913,  the  Holy  Name  men  of 
Toronto  had  perhaps  the  largest  religious  parade  ever 
witnessed  in  that  once  bigoted  city.  About  the  same 
time  he  received  the  welcome  news  from  distant 
Hawaii  that  the  society  had  taken  root  there  and 
counted  among  its  members  men  of  all  the  races  in 
that  cosmopolitan  land.  To  all  these  places  it  had 
been  transplanted  through  the  influence  of  his  zealous 
propaganda. 

During  the  period  of  Father  McKenna's  life  of 
which  we  are  now  speaking,  the  Holy  Name  was  es- 
tablished in  hundreds  of  new  places  in  the  United 
States;  and  the  branches  of  the  society  had  run  into 
the  thousands.  More  than  half  perhaps  of  these  had 
been  started  by  the  friar  himself.  Such,  then,  were 
the  proportions  to  which  had  grown  the  tree  which  the 
venerable  friar  had  helped  to  plant  and  had  watered 
and  cultivated  with  careful  zeal  for  more  than  forty 
years.  It  seems  almost  incredible  that  such  a  move- 

i  We  do  not  remember  ever  having  seen  another  person  to  whom  the 
sight  of  good  done  by  others  gave  quite  so  much  pleasure  as  to  Father 
McKenna. 


356  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

ment  could  have  been  placed  on  so  firm  a  basis,  gath- 
ered so  many  adherents  and  become  more  than  nation- 
wide within  the  life-span  of  one  priest. 

If  to  this  we  add  what  the  holy  Dominican  did  for 
the  Rosary,  and  what  he  accomplished  on  the  mis- 
sions and  through  his  other  works,  the  only  inference 
that  can  be  drawn  is:  Surely,  the  hand  of  God  was 
with  this  man.  Forty  years  and  more  before  he  had 
promised  the  Blessed  Virgin  at  Lourdes  that  if  his 
health  was  restored,  he  would  labor  for  her  and  her 
Divine  Son  as  long  as  he  had  the  strength  to  do  so. 
Seldom  has  a  promise  been  kept  by  rnan  more  faith- 
fully or  more  religiously. 

During  these  three  years,  as  before,  Father  Mc- 
Kenna  never  failed  to  be  received  with  great  ovations 
by  the  men  of  the  Holy  Name  when  he  preached  at 
their  rallies.  We  will,  however,  mention  but  three 
such  occasions.  One  of  these  occurred  in  the  diocese 
of  Brooklyn;  another  in  that  of  New  York.  The 
rally  of  Brooklyn  was  held  July  13,  1913,  that  of  the 
Bronx,  a  little  earlier  in  the  same  year.  At  both  not 
only  was  the  missionary  welcomed  with  prolonged  and 
enthusiastic  cheers  when  he  rose  to  speak  in  the  open 
air;  he  had  frequently  to  interrupt  his  discourse  be- 
cause of  the  plaudits  that  greeted  his  climaxes.  No 
one  of  the  great  throng  that  listened  to  him  in  Brook- 
lyn was  warmer  in  his  expressions  of  approval  than 
Bishop  McDonnell,  always  a  sympathetic  friend  of  the 
Holy  Name  men. 

The  third  instance  took  place  in  Pittsburgh,  Sun- 
day, January  11,  1914,  and  deserves  special  mention, 
partly  because  it  was  the  last  time  the  apostle  of  the 
society  spoke  at  any  of  its  rallies,  and  partly  because 


A  NOBLE  ENDING.  357 

the  great  success  with  which  he  met  on  that  occasion, 
was  achieved  in  spite  of  his  physical  condition.  About 
three  weeks  before  the  address  was  to  be  delivered 
Father  McKenna  contracted  a  severe  cold  that  settled 
on  his  chest  and  threatened  to  develop  into  pneumonia. 
In  the  hope  of  hastening  his  recovery  he  went  to  spend 
some  days  at  the  Dominican  House  of  Studies  near 
the  Catholic  University,  Washington.  There  his  cold 
was  cured,  but  it  left  him  in  such  a  weakened  condi- 
tion that  the  fathers  sought  to  dissuade  him  from  en- 
deavoring to  preach.  With  the  missionary,  however, 
an  engagement,  even  of  minor  importance,  was  a  duty 
sacredly  to  be  fulfilled,  if  at  all  possible.  In  the 
present  instance,  since  it  was  at  the  earnest  solicita- 
tion of  his  friend,  Bishop  Canevin,  that  he  had  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  of  the  Holy  Name  men  of  Pitts- 
burgh, he  felt  that  he  must  keep  his  promise  at  any 
hazard. 

Because  of  Father  McKenna's  enfeebled  health,  a 
young  priest  was  sent  with  him  from  Washington. 
Arriving  at  Pittsburgh  on  January  8,  he  was  met  by  a 
delegation  of  Holy  Name  men,  headed  by  their  presi- 
dent. The  zealous  priest  was  so  exhausted  by  his 
journey,  however,  that  he  had  to  be  taken  at  once  to 
the  hospital  of  the  Sisters  of  Mercy,  where  he  was  kept 
in  bed  until  it  was  time  for  him  to  give  his  address.  As 
a  correspondent  of  the  Catholic  Standard  and  Times 
tells  us: 

"Eight  thousand  men,  old  and  young,  arose  in  Exposition 
Hall  yesterday  afternoon  and  gave  a  demonstrative  welcome  to    N  ' 
a  venerable,  white-haired  man  who  was  slowly  making  his  way 
through  the  huge  audience  to  the  platform.     Once  on  the  plat- 
form, the  aged  man's  eyes  swept  the  great  interior.     A  broad 


358  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

smile  played  on  his  countenance.  Seating  himself  for  a  moment 
or  two  of  contemplation,  he  threw  aside  his  topcoat  and  re- 
vealed the  simple  habit  of  the  Catholic  order  with  which  he  is 
identified."2 

The  correspondent  then  proceeds  to  give  the  name 
of  the  aged  orator  and  his  mission  to  Pittsburgh,  and 
to  summarize  the  lecture.  The  lecture,  which  was 
on  the  "Divinity  of  Christ,"  was  indeed  a  masterpiece 
and  was  considered  by  many  as  one  of  the  friar's 
finest  oratorical  efforts.  The  sight  of  such  an  ocean 
of  faces  before  him  eager  to  hear  the  word  of  God 
always  acted  as  a  tonic  upon  Father  McKenna's  soul, 
giving  strength  to  his  body.  So  it  was  on  this  occa- 
sion, when  eight  thousand  men  hung  breathless  on  his 
words.  For  more  than  an  hour  he  swayed  them  at  will. 
So  carried  away  with  his  lecture  were  his  hearers  that, 
when  he  had  finished,  they  rushed  upon  the  platform 
from  which  he  had  spoken,  seized  him  and  carried  him 
*/  on  their  shoulders  to  address  another  audience  of  from 
eighteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  men  who,  unable  to 
gain  entrance  into  the  auditorium,  had  waited  in  an- 
other hall  in  the  hope  of  catching  a  glimpse  of  the 
illustrious  friar.  But  the  holy  man,  now  that  his 
first  effort  was  over,  was  so  exhausted  that  he  could 
give  them  but  a  talk  of  ten  minutes  and  his  blessing. 

As  the  missionary  had  been  taken  from  the  hospital 
to  Exposition  Hall,  so  he  had  to  be  carried  from  the 
hall  back  to  the  hospital.  There  he  was  confined  to  his 
bed  for  more  than  two  days.  But  before  leaving 
Pittsburgh,  although  he  was  barely  able  to  walk,  his 
characteristic  zeal  led  him  to  visit  and  console  the  sick 
in  the  hospital  and  to  give  a  conference  to  the  sisters 

2  The  Catholic  Standard  and  Times,  January  17,  1914. 


A  NOBLE  ENDING.  359 

both  there  and  at  their  mother-house  in  the  city. 
Again,  at  his  departure,  hundreds  of  the  men  who  had 
heard  his  lecture  gathered  at  the  station  to  thank  him 
and  to  wish  him  God's  blessing.  For  months  after- 
wards the  Catholic  circles  of  Pittsburgh  were  loud  in 
their  praises  of  the  "grand  old  man."  When,  on  his 
return  to  Washington,  where  he  was  obliged  to  rest 
from  his  exertions,  Father  McKenna  was  asked  how 
he  had  succeeded  with  his  discourse,  his  reply  was:V 
"  They  seemed  pleased  with  it.  But  I  fear  '  the  swan 
has  sung  its  song."  Happily,  however,  he  still  had 
a  few  months  left  in  which  to  soothe  the  souls  of  the 
faithful  with  the  music  of  his  voice. 

Interspersed  with  his  multitudinous  labors  at  this 
time  came  two  unique  celebrations  in  his  honor  which, 
while  they  caused  him  some  confusion,  must  also  have 
occasioned  Father  McKenna  no  little  satisfaction. 
Some  of  his  friends,  fearing  that  he  would  not  live  to 
see  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  ordination,  planned 
to  celebrate  the  forty-fifth.  Unknown  to  the  mission- 
ary, the  noted  artist,  Frederic  De  Kenwood,  I.  S.  A., 
a  convert,  was  engaged  to  paint  a  life-size  portrait 
of  him.  Mr.  De  Henwood  made  his  study  of  the 
noted  orator  in  the  pulpit  and  strove  to  represent  him 
as  he  appeared  in  moments  of  repose  between  the 
telling  points  of  his  discourse. 

When  all  was  ready,  Rev.  Bernard  A.  McKenna,  a 
cousin,  requested  the  missionary  to  come  to  Philadel- 
phia on  October  13,  1912,  for  a  matter  of  importance, 
but  gave  no  hint  as  to  the  nature  of  the  business,  lest 
the  humble  priest  should  flee  the  honor  intended  for 
him.  In  his  guileless  way  Father  McKenna  accepted 
the  invitation,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  the  day  speci- 


360  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

fied  met  his  relative  at  the  home  of  the  latter's  mother. 
In  the  evening  the  unsuspecting  priest  went  with  his 
friend  ostensibly  for  an  auto  ride.  When,  however, 
the  machine  halted  at  the  Bellevue- Stratford,  and 
Father  McKenna  was  invited  into  the  hotel  for  a  mo- 
ment, he  began  to  suspect  that  a  program  had  been 
prepared  of  which  he  had  not  dreamed.  No  sooner 
had  he  stepped  into  the  hotel  than  these  suspicions 
were  confirmed,  for  there  he  was  confronted  by  a 
number  of  friends  who  congratulated  him  on  the  forty- 
fifth  anniversary  of  his  ordination.  He  had  not 
thought  of  this;  but  it  was  now  too  late  to  turn  back. 
It  was  an  occasion  of  much  amusement  to  see  the  good 
priest — for  he  was  nearsighted — ,  on  entering  the 
"  Clover  Room "  of  the  hotel,  walk  over  to  examine  a 
large  painting  which  he  noticed.  No  idea  was  farther 
from  his  mind  than  that  it  was  a  portrait  of  himself. 
When  he  recognized  it  as  his  own  likeness,  the  expres- 
sion of  mingled  surprise  and  confusion  on  his  counte- 
nance was  indescribable.  Although  the  discovery  was 
clearly  a  shock  to  his  humility,  his  only  words  were: 
"  May  God  forgive  you ! " 

After  the  jubilarian  had  regained  his  composure, 
Doctor  Charles  H.  Northrop,  dean  of  the  Hahnemann 
Hospital,  Philadelphia,  made  a  graceful  address  of 
presentation,  offering  the  work  of  art  to  the  Domin- 
icans. This  was  happily  responded  to  by  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  superior,  the  Very  Rev.  E.  G.  Fitzgerald, 
who  accepted  the  portrait  in  the  name  of  his  province. 
Then  came  a  tribute  and  welcome  in  verse  written  by 
the  late  Miss  Eleanor  Donnelly,  but  read  by  a  cousin 
of  the  missionary,  Miss  Rose  McKenna,  which  was 
followed  by  a  beautiful  and  unique  musical  program 


A  NOBLE  ENDING.  361 

symbolic  of  the  fifteen  mysteries  of  the  Rosary,  the 
devotion  which  the  friar  loved  so  well. 

Three  hundred  or  more  of  Father  McKenna's 
friends  from  different  cities  in  the  east  were  present  at 
the  celebration.  At  the  close  of  the  exercises  when  he 
had  mastered  his  feelings,  the  humble  servant  of  God 
thanked  them  for  their  kindly  remembrance  of  "an  old 
priest,"  accepted  their  tribute  as  intended  to  honor  the 
priesthood  rather  than  himself  personally,  and,  with 
this  modification,  expressed  his  deep  gratitude.  The 
portrait  now  hangs  on  the  walls  of  the  Dominican 
House  of  Studies,  at  Washington,  where  it  will  long 
serve  as  an  inspiration  to  future  generations  of  Friar 
Preacher  students. 

The  second  celebration,  held  in  honor  of  the  fiftieth 
anniversary  of  Father  McKenna's  religious  profes- 
sion, took  place  in  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's  Church  and 
Priory,  New  York,  Sunday,  April  20,  1913.  This, 
too,  was  kept  from  him  until  it  was  necessary  to  make 
known  to  him  the  part  he  was  to  take  in  it.  On  this 
occasion,  however,  the  holy  man's  confusion  was  less- 
ened by  the  fact  that  a  brother  priest,  Very  Rev. 
H.  F.  Lilly,  who  had  made  his  profession  at  the  same 
time,  was  associated  with  him  in  the  celebration.  The 
church  of  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer  was  crowded  with 
friends  at  the  solemn  mass,  and  the  sermon  paying  a 
well  deserved  tribute  to  the  two  distinguished  jubi- 
larians  was  preached  by  Rev.  John  T.  McNicholas, 
O.P.  After  the  mass  a  dinner  was  given  in  their 
honor  at  the  convent,  at  which  words  of  praise  were 
spoken  which  more  than  once  brought  a  blush  to 
Father  McKenna's  cheek.  It  is  worthy  of  remem- 
brance that  the  noted  English  Dominican  preacher  and 


362  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

writer,  Very  Rev.  Vincent  McNabb,  who  was  in  the 
United  States  at  the  time,  and  who  had  learned  to  love 
and  admire  Father  McKenna,  composed  a  poem  for 
the  ocasion  which  he  read  at  the  banquet. 

It  is  now  time  to  take  up  again  the  thread  of  our 
story  of  the  apostolic  priest's  labors  where  it  was  left 
off  to  relate  the  above  interesting  celebrations. 
Shortly  after  his  return  to  Washington  from  Pitts- 
burgh, Father  McKenna  resumed  his  work  of  preach- 
ing, lecturing  and  ministering  to  souls.  And  so  he 
continued  until  he  was  no  longer  able.  Thus,  for  in- 
stance, we  find  him  writing  from  New  Hampshire  to 
Master  John  McKenna,  a  young  protege  in  Phila- 
delphia : 

"  ST.  ANNE'S  RECTORY, 
"  MANCHESTER,  N.  H.,  March  20,  1914. 
"My  dear  Boy  John: 

"How  good  to  get  your  letter  and  learn  you  were  well.  I 
have  been  in  New  England  for  nearly  three  weeks  doing  a  little 
for  our  dear  Lord  and  His  Blessed  Mother.  Thank  God  I  enjoy 
good  health,  though  I  have  suffered  some  from  the  cold.  The 
streets  of  Manchester  are  still  full  of  ice,  but  the  pastors  take 
good  care  of  your  old  friend.  I  hope  your  parents  are  well. 
Give  them  my  best  wishes.  God  bless  you. 
"Yours  affectionately, 

"C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P." 

Father  McKenna  delivered  many  lectures  during 
the  last  three  years  of  his  active  life;  but,  not  to  tire 
the  reader,  we  shall  single  out  only  two  of  these  for 
mention.  They  were  among  the  very  last  given  by 
him  and  attracted  unusual  notice.  The  first,  "  Ireland 
and  Its  Apostle,"  was  delivered  in  Saint  Raymond's, 
Providence,  March  15,  1914,  its  proceeds  being  ap- 


A  NOBLE  ENDING.  363 

plied  to  lessen  the  debt  on  the  new  church.  The  other, 
on  "  Saint  Patrick,"  was  given  on  March  25  of  the 
same  year  in  Saint  Lawrence's,  New  Bedford. 

As  the  New  Bedford  Standard  of  March  26,  1914, 
in  its  account  of  the  lecture  in  that  city,  gives  the 
writer's  own  impressions  of  the  great  orator  on  simi- 
lar occasions,  the  reader  is  asked  to  pardon  us  if  we 
make  rather  copious  extracts  from  that  paper. 
Under  the  caption  of  "What  The  Preacher  Was 
Like,"  the  Standard  says: 

"A  venerable  father  in  Israel  is  the  Rev.  E.  D.  [an  error  for 
C.  H.]  McKenna,  the  Dominican  priest  who  preached  last  night 
at  St.  Lawrence's  church  on  Saint  Patrick.  Though  he  is  80 
years  of  age,  his  form  is  still  erect,  his  eyes  are  clear  and  bright, 
and  his  voice  finely  resonant.  It  is  in  many  respects  a  remark- 
able voice.  It  faithfully  represents  the  emotions  with  which  its 
owner  is  swayed.  It  is  now  soft  and  pleading,  and  again  peals 
forth  like  a  blast  from  a  silver  toned  trumpet.  It  is  the  voice 
of  a  virile  man,  whose  advancing  years  have  not  yet  spelled  for 
him  that  fateful  word,  senility.  It  does  not  pipe  nor  whistle  in 
its  sound,  but  comes  forth  full-throated  and  clear,  penetrating 
into  every  nook  and  corner  of  the  church  edifice. 

"  There  is  another  distinguishing  characteristic  about  Father 
McKenna.'.  .  .  'He  is  Irish  through  and  through,'  and  he  is 
very  proud  of  the  fact.  No  Irishman  in  the  heat  of  a  St.  Pat- 
rick's Day  celebration  ever  enthused  more  loyally  and  enthusi- 
astically over  the  country  of  his  ancestors  than  did  Father  Mc- 
Kenna last  night.  He  delights  in  its  history,  its  myths  and  its 
legends,  its  music,  its  poesy,  its  green  grass,  its  lakes,  its  people, 
and  beyond  and  above  all  in  its  religion,  its  saints,  its  priests, 
its  bishops.  The  deep  feeling  which  was  expressed  in  every  tone 
of  his  voice  when  he  referred  to  the  probability  of  the  early 
establishment  of  home  rule  in  Ireland  made  the  writer  feel  that 
the  cause  of  home  rule  lost  an  eloquent  and  convincing  advocate 


364  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

when  Father  McKenna  retired  to  the  cloister.  What  a  power 
that  moving  voice,  that  commanding  presence,  that  dignity  of 
demeanor,  that  burning  zeal  would  have  been  in  the  long  drawn 
out  campaign  which  has  been  waged  so  zealously  for  a  consum- 
mation that  seems  now  almost  within  grasp!  In  any  position 
Father  McKenna  would  have  been  a  power.  That  he  has  been 
a  moving  power  in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  those  in  New 
Bedford,  and  they  are  many,  who  have  sat  under  his  ministra- 
tions from  time  to  time  during  the  past  years,  well  know. 

"Father  McKenna  looms  large  in  the  pulpit.  The  only  no- 
ticeable effect  of  advancing  years  upon  him  is  the  slight  stoop 
in  his  shoulders,  and  a  certain  deliberateness  of  movement  which 
betrays  the  fact  that  he  is  conserving  his  energies.  His  face  is 
a  strong  one.  The  features  are  large,  and  strength  and  firm- 
ness of  character  are  written  large  upon  its  every  lineament. 
His  gestures  have  in  their  graceful  sweep  no  sign  of  weakness. 
He  has  a  way  of  leaning  over  the  pulpit  and  gripping  the  con- 
gregation with  the  power  of  his  eyes,  that  not  only  attracts  at- 
tention but  demands  it,  and  holds  it.  This  description  of  him 
is  recalled  not  without  some  difficulty,  for  so  entrancing  was  the 
story  of  Ireland  that  he  told,  and  so  neatly  pointed  and  turned 
were  the  sentences  in  which  he  dressed  his  story,  that  the  mind 
was  taken  up  with  the  subject  matter  at  the  expense  of  the  per- 
sonality. .  .  ." 

Then  the  correspondent  of  the  Standard,  who  signs 
himself  "  E.  M.  L."  and  who  was  evidently  a  reporter, 
tells  how  he  had  gone  to  the  church  in  the  position  of 
a  critic  to  study  the  orator,  his  art,  his  gestures,  and 
his  manner  rather  than  to  give  an  account  of  the  lec- 
ture; but  that  "he  found  himself  beguiled  out  of  his 
wonted  habit  of  mind  into  listening  to  the  fascinating 
tale  of  good  and  great  Saint  Patrick."  Of  the  noted 
Dominican  he  says:  "His  is  an  art  that  conceals  art." 
And  of  his  portrayal  of  the  life  of  Saint  Patrick,  the 


A  NOBLE  ENDING.  365 

legends,  history  and  scenery  of  the  island,  E.  M.  L. 
writes : 

"  It  was  like  the  work  of  a  master  painter  who  catches  a  glint 
of  glowing  sunlight  and  impinges  it  upon  canvas  in  lasting 
colors  .  .  .,  making  it  a  joy  forever.  And  as  he  spoke,  the 
music  that  once  leaped  from  the  harp  that  hung  in  Tara's  halls 
was  in  his  voice,  the  holy  light  which  dwelt  around  St.  Patrick 
was  in  his  countenance,  his  eyes  reflected  the  glories  of  the  land- 
scape, and  his  form  straightened  as  he  spoke  of  the  heroes  that 
had  added  fame  and  lustre  to  the  name  of  'auld  Ireland,'  not 
only  in  the  land  of  their  birth,  but  in  the  countries  of  their  adop- 
tion. In  fact,  before  Father  McKenna  finished  with  his  sermon, 
he  had  made  you  feel  that  there  was  nothing  in  the  world  quite  so 
glorious  as  being  a  real,  true  Irishman  and  a  son  of  the  Church, 
and  if  by  the  misfortune  of  birth  you  had  missed  being  an  Irish- 
man, you  had  missed  a  great  deal.  .  .  ." 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  things  about  the  saintly 
friar,  from  a  physical  point  of  view,  was  how  he  re- 
tained his  extraordinary  voice,  in  spite  of  exposure, 
hard  labor  and  incessant  public  speaking,  into  extreme 
old  age.  Doubtless  this  was  due  in  large  measure  to 
the  great  pains  he  gave  in  younger  years  to  training 
his  voice  and  to  learning  how  to  use  it,  as  well  as  to 
the  excellent  care  he  took  of  it  in  subsequent  life. 
We  do  not  think  we  ever  heard  an  orator  who  spoke 
with  greater  ease,  or  with  less  fatigue.  All  this  was 
the  reward  of  early  thought  and  effort,  even  as  his 
eminent  holiness  was  the  fruit  of  prayer  and  sacrifice. 

Although  Father  McKenna  had  grown  old  in  body, 
and  perhaps  at  times  fancied  he  felt  the  ice  of  death 
closing  around  him,  within — in  heart  and  mind — there 
were  still  the  warmth  and  the  sunshine  of  young 
manhood;  for  there  the  gulf -stream  of  youth  still 


366  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

flowed  into  the  arctic  regions  of  his  life.  In  lahor  he 
felt  "better  the  excess  than  the  deficit;  better  the 
more  than  the  less."  So  he  toiled  on  in  the  cause  of 
good.  As  the  ardor  of  his  soul  gave  expansion  to  his 
mind,  he  did  not  confine  his  efforts  to  the  devotions 
of  his  own  Order,  but  sought  to  promote  all  others, 
when  his  aid  was  wanted.  To  this  end,  with  keen  fore- 
sight he  had  long  had  the  custom  of  providing  himself 
with  faculties  or  authorization,  when  such  were  needed, 
to  establish  or  in  any  way  to  aid  religious  societies  or 
devotions  under  the  supervision  of  orders  other  than 
his  own — a  practice  that  he  continued  until  the  last. 
The  papers  of  this  character  left  by  the  missionary 
bear  dates  from  the  first  years  of  his  active  ministry, 
thus  giving  eloquent  testimony  to  his  broad,  disinter- 
ested zeal.  On  the  one  hand,  he  had  a  strong  faith  in 
all  the  practices  approved  by  the  Church,  but  doubted 
the  wisdom  of  individuals  endeavoring  to  practice  a 
multiplicity  of  devotions.  On  the  other,  he  thought 
his  confreres  should  propagate  in  their  congregations 
especially  the  devotions  entrusted  to  the  propaganda 
of  the  Order;  but  he  could  see  no  reason  why  a  Do- 
minican should  not  lend  hearty  support  to  any  or  all 
others  in  places  where  they  were  desired. 

So,  too,  the  apostle's  efforts  to  foster  vocations  went 
on  with  unabated  zeal.  In  this  work  the  youthful 
spirit  he  maintained  was  of  incalculable  aid,  since  it 
enabled  him  to  understand  the  mind  and  heart  of  the 
young — kept  him  in  sympathy  with  them  and  in  touch 
with  their  aspirations.  Never  in  his  life,  perhaps, 
did  his  fatherly  heart  or  his  simple,  guileless  manner 
exercise  a  stronger  influence  over  those  who  were 
many  years  his  juniors,  than  during  this  period. 


A  NOBLE  ENDING.  367 

Never  had  he  gathered  under  his  guidance  and  care 
greater  numbers  of  aspirants  to  the  priesthood. 

A  concrete  example  of  how  the  venerable  religious 
inculcated  the  lofty  ideals  of  the  priesthood  may  be 
seen  in  the  following  letter  to  a  thoughtless  young 
student  whom  he  had  befriended.  We  do  not  think 
it  indelicate  to  publish  the  document,  because  all  pos- 
sibility of  detecting  the  person  to  whom  it  was  written 
is  removed  by  the  fact  that,  as  far  as  the  reader  is 
concerned,  it  might  have  been  any  one  of  the  many 
young  men  who  thus  came  under  Father  McKenna's 
paternal  direction  within  the  past  forty  odd  years. 

"  NEW  YORK, 

"  August  SI. 
"  Dear — : 

"Your  letter  of  the  28th  inst.  is  before  me.     I  consent  to 

your  returning  to in  September,  and  I  hope  you  will  make 

your  promise  good.  It  was  not  simply  the  advancement  in 
studies  which  you  failed  to  make  that  displeased  me  in  the  past ; 
it  was  the  disposition,  or  rather  want  of  disposition,  which  that 
failure  manifested.  Claiming  to  aspire  to  the  sublime  dignity 
of  the  priesthood,  and  knowing  that  a  whole  lifetime  is  not  too 
much  of  a  preparation,  it  grieved  me  that  you  could  squander 
precious  time — particularly  when  that  time  was  paid  for  by 
others. 

"  Considering  all  the  circumstances,  as  I  have  stated  in  a  pre- 
vious letter,  none  in  the  college  should  show  a  better  record  than 
you ;  none  should  be  more  devoted  to  prayer  or  study.  Others, 
knowing  your  aspirations  to  be  a  Dominican,  look  to  you  for 
example  and  edification.  For  God's  sake,  then,  be  in  earnest, 
and  prove  in  the  future  that  your  heart  is  not  in  baseball  or 
other  amusements — show  that  you  are  fitting  yourself  for  the 
sublime  vocation  to  which  you  aspire.  Ah,  my  son,  God  only 
knows  the  evil  done  by  careless,  indifferent  priests.  What,  then, 


368  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

can  you  expect  of  yourself,  if  you  are  a  careless,  indifferent 
student? 

"Praying  that  God  may  bless  you  and  confirm  your  good 
resolutions,  I  remain,  Yours  in  Christ, 

"  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P."? 

Prior  to  1907  or  1908 — that  is  before  arrangements 
had  been  made  by  Aquinas  College,  Columbus,  Ohio, 
under  the  charge  of  his  province,  to  take  aspirants 
for  the  Order — ,  Father  McKenna  had  placed  those  who 
applied  to  him  in  different  institutions,  his  favorite  be- 
ing the  Sulpician  College  of  Saint  Charles,  near  Elli- 
cott  City,  Maryland.  But  from  that  time,  as  a  true 
Dominican,  he  quite  naturally  began  to  send  his  ap- 
plicants to  be  trained  by  his  own  brethren.  Accord- 
ingly, from  this  period  Aquinas  College  has  always 
had  enrolled  a  goodly  number  of  the  zealous  priest's 
neophytes.  The  establishment  of  this  college  had  been 
the  occasion  of  keen  joy  to  the  members  of  the  eastern 
province  of  Friars  Preacher  in  the  United  States,  but 
to  none  more  than  to  the  aged  missionary;  for  he  had 
long  eagerly  desired  to  see  such  an  educational  insti- 
tution under  the  care  of  the  fathers,  so  that  his  young 
men  might  begin  to  imbibe  the  spirit  and  ideals  of  the 
Order  from  the  beginning  of  their  classical  studies. 
From  the  outset,  therefore,  no  one  could  have  taken  a 
more  lively  interest  in  the  welfare  of  Aquinas  College. 
Of  this  his  friends  were  aware;  and  as  they  probably 
feared  the  apostle's  career  was  near  its  close  and 
wished  to  show  him  another  token  of  their  esteem,  they 
subscribed  the  sum  of  five  thousand  dollars,  establish- 
ing the  McKenna  scholarship  in  1914,  and  stipulating 
that  as  long  as  he  lived  he  should  designate  its  bene- 
ficiary. 

»  This  young  man  soon  gave  up  all  intentions  of  becoming  a  priest. 


A  NOBLE  ENDING.  369 

At  no  period  of  his  career  did  Father  McKenna 
labor  more  zealously  for  the  promotion  of  the  secular 
Third  Order  of  Saint  Dominic  than  after  his  appoint- 
ment as  director  of  the  Rosary  and  the  Holy  Name. 
But  from  1906,  when  he  saw  that  his  life  must  be 
drawing  to  its  close,  he  appears  to  have  taken  more 
pains  than  ever  before  to  foster  its  growth.  Likely, 
indeed,  one  of  his  aims  in  this  was  to  leave  another 
legacy  to  his  brethren  in  religion.  Another  was,  per- 
haps, to  obtain  more  prayers  for  his  soul  when  he 
should  be  called  before  the  judgment-seat  of  God;  for 
the  saintly  always  seem  to  imagine  themselves  un- 
worthy of  the  divine  mercy.  Wherever  he  went  during 
these  years,  the  holy  priest  was  sure  to  find  numbers 
anxiously  awaiting  his  coming  that  they  might  be  en- 
rolled by  him  into  this  militia  of  Christ.  It  is  remark- 
able how  many  both  of  the  clergy  and  the  hierarchy 
he  received  into  the  Third  Order. 

Father  McKenna's  charity,  as  has  been  said,  took 
in  all  classes  and  walks  of  life;  but  it  went  out  with  a 
special  Christ-like  tenderness  to  the  poor,  the  sick  and 
the  afflicted.  Whenever  he  could,  he  did  not  fail  to  do 
his  utmost  to  console  or  to  assist  such  as  these.  Many 
instances  in  which  he  played  the  part  of  the  good 
Samaritan  have  come  under  the  personal  observation 
of  the  writer.  We  have  heard  of  many  more.  All 
his  life  he  was  wont  to  visit  charitable  asylums  for  the 
aged,  the  homes  of  the  poor,  hospitals,  etc.  His  mis- 
sion, however,  was  to  soothe  and  to  heal  ailments  of 
the  heart  and  soul  rather  than  those  of  the  body.  To 
many  a  sinner  on  the  brink  of  the  grave  or  of  despair 
did  the  kindly  ambassador  of  Christ  thus  bring  the 
grace  of  peace  and  reconciliation  with  the  Divine  Mas- 

25 


370  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

ter.  These  works  of  spiritual  and  corporal  mercy  also 
Father  McKenna  continued  as  long  as  he  retained  the 
strength  to  carry  on  their  ministration. 

So  went  he  on  until  he  could  go  no  more,  doing  good 
and  gathering  souls  to  Christ  in  any  and  every  way. 
Well  and  faithfully  did  he  keep  his  promise  to  Leo 
XIII  to  die  in  the  harness;  for  while  Father  Mc- 
Kenna did  not  actually  so  die,  it  was  not  his  fault  that 
he  did  not.  All  the  year  of  1914,  from  the  time  he  left 
Washingon  after  his  return  from  Pittsburgh,  he  went 
from  pillar  to  post,  fulfilling  his  vocation  of  priest 
and  ambassador  of  Christ  in  a  way  that  recalls  the 
mission  of  the  precursor,  John  the  Baptist,  to  prepare 
the  people  for  the  coming  of  the  Saviour.  But  God, 
it  would  seem,  felt  that  the  zealous  man  had  done 
enough  for  others  and  wished  to  give  him  time  to  do 
more  for  himself.  On  September  1,  Father  Mc- 
Kenna began  a  week's  retreat  to  the  Holy  Name  men 
of  Hopewell,  New  Jersey,  but  three  days  later  he  was 
stricken  with  failure  of  the  heart  and  obliged  to  re- 
linquish his  work.  It  was  an  illness  from  which  he 
never  recovered,  and  which  closed  the  days  of  his 
apostolic  activity.  If  the  missionary  did  not  die  in 
the  harness,  he  fell  in  the  harness  and  could  not  rise 
again.  It  was  a  noble  ending  to  a  glorious  apostolate. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

AN  INVALID. 

(1914-1917) 

IF  true  be  the  spiritual  proverb  which  tells  us  that 
sickness  and  trial  are  the  test  of  one's  religious  char- 
acter, the  last  two  and  a  half  years  of  Father  Charles 
H.  McKenna's  life  are  a  further  proof  of  how  wholly 
he  was  a  man  of  God.  So  abrupt  a  change  from  a 
long  and  intensely  active  apostolate  to  a  state  of 
almost  helpless  decrepitude  must  have  been  trying  in 
the  extreme  to  one  of  his  ardent  zeal;  yet  he  bore  the 
affliction  with  heroic  courage.  Though  he  was  eager 
to  be  at  work  again,  no  word  of  complaint  or  regret 
escaped  his  lips;  no  expression  of  impatience  shadowed 
his  countenance. 

On  September  3,  1914,  the  day  he  was  stricken,  the 
venerable  missionary  was  taken  to  the  convent  of  the 
Franciscan  Sisters,  Hopewell,  New  Jersey,  where  he 
received  the  last  sacraments.  The  physicians  held  out 
no  hope  of  recovery.  The  aged  priest,  they  said,  was 
beyond  the  aid  of  human  science  and  skill.  For  ten 
days  or  more  Father  McKenna  lay  at  the  point  of 
death;  then,  to  the  surprise  of  all,  he  began  to  improve 
and  was  soon  able  to  leave  Hopewell.  But  the  days 
of  his  labor  were  over.  Indeed,  it  would  seem  that 
there  was  a  touch  of  the  supernatural  in  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  missionary's  life  during  his  last  years.  To 
all  who  attended  him  in  his  frequent  and  apparently 
mortal  attacks,  it  was  a  mystery  how  he  continued  to 

371 


372  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

live.  Non-  Catholic  physicians  were  mystified,  and 
Catholic  doctors  candidly  admitted  that  it  must  have 
been  through  a  divine  power. 

In  December,  1914,  the  invalided  priest  came  to  the 
Dominican  House  of  Studies  in  the  National  Capital, 
where  he  tarried  for  five  months.  At  this  convent,  in 
fact,  he  spent  nearly  half  of  his  remaining  days.  It 
was  at  the  beginning  of  this  period  that  the  author  was 
instructed  to  prepare  the  present  volume.  Fortu- 
nately the  venerable  apostle,  though  suffering  from 
bodily  weakness,  retained  his  mental  vigor,  his  splendid 
memory,  his  youthful  spirits  and  his  unfailing  good 
humor.  Indeed,  in  mind,  memory  and  mood  we  can- 
not recall  ever  having  seen  Father  McKenna  in  better 
condition  for  imparting  information.  Thus  his  so- 
journs in  Washington  afforded  an  excellent  oppor- 
tunity to  gather  data  for  his  biography.  The  process 
of  gathering  it  occasioned  the  grand  old  man  not  the 
slightest  inconvenience,  for  he  loved  company  and  still 
enjoyed  a  story  or  a  joke  with  keen  relish.  A  number 
of  the  community  were  engaged  in  the  plot,  and  in  his 
guileless  simplicity  he  permitted  himself,  without  sus- 
picion of  our  purpose,  to  be  drawn  out  delightfully. 
The  conversation  generally  began  with  a  story,  or 
with  some  bit  of  past  history.  Then,  when  he  had 
become  interested,  he  was  led  deftly  on  to  speak  of 
some  personal  episode  in  his  life  or  of  affairs  in  which 
he  played  a  conspicuous  part.  In  this  way,  much 
of  the  most  valuable  and  reliable  material  contained 
in  this  biography  was  gleaned  from  its  own  subject — so 
much,  indeed,  that  many  of  its  chapters  (among  them 
some  of  the  first  importance)  might  be  termed  auto- 
biographical. 


AN  INVALID.  373 

Father  McKenna's  visits  to  Washington  were,  fur- 
thermore, occasions  not  merely  of  edification,  but  of 
positive  inspiration  to  the  clerical  novices  of  the  prov- 
ince. Although  ordinarily  there  is  little  intercourse 
between  the  fathers  and  the  students  under  their 
charge,  outside  of  class,  in  this  case  rules  were  sus- 
pended and  the  novices  were  permitted  to  converse 
freely  with  the  holy  old  servant  of  God.  From  his 
own  lips  they  heard  the  wonderful  story  of  his  life — 
how  he  had  labored  to  bring  about  the  fulfillment  of 
his  youthful  aspirations  by  becoming  an  ambassador 
of  Christ  and  a  worthy  follower  of  St.  Dominic;  how 
during  his  long  life  he  had  ever  striven  to  keep  before 
his  mind  the  loftiest  ideals  of  the  priesthood  and  its  re- 
sponsibilities. They  saw  him  at  his  prayers,  his  medi- 
tation, his  visits  to  the  eucharistic  Lord;  they  witnessed 
the  devotion  with  which  he  said  mass;  they  observed 
how,  even  at  his  advanced  age  and  in  his  state  of  bodily 
infirmity,  he  endeavored  to  follow  the  community  exer- 
cises. 

The  sick  priest's  submission  to  the  will  of  God  was 
manifest  to  all.  Eager  to  be  at  work,  he  often  asked, 
not:  "Do  you  think  I  shall  get  well?",  but:  "Do  you 
think  I  shall  ever  be  able  to  work  again?"  Then  he 
would  add:  "However,  God's  holy  will,  not  mine,  be 
done.  Yet,  personally,  I  should  much  prefer  to  be 
laboring  in  His  cause  and  for  the  salvation  of  souls  to 
sitting  or  lying  here  idle  all  the  day."  On  more 
than  one  occasion,  when  asked  if  he  would  like  to  live 
his  long  life  over  again,  his  answer,  given  after  some 
deliberation,  was:  "Well,  yes,  if  it  should  please  God, 
and  I  thought  I  could  add  to  His  glory  and  help 
people  to  get  to  heaven."  Through  all  this  period  of 


374  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

sickness  similar  noble  sentiments  escaped  his  lips,  and 
that  they  came  from  the  heart  was  evident  from  the 
simple,  guileless  manner  in  which  they  were  uttered. 
Instinctively  they  brought  to  one's  mind  the  words  of 
the  Psalmist:  "As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  foun- 
tains of  water;  so  my  soul  panteth  after  thee,  O  God." 
Father  McKenna's  extremely  active  life  had  obliged 
Rim  to  travel  so  constantly  that  change  had  become  as 
a  second  nature  to  him.  In  consequence  of  this,  now 
that  he  had  become  an  invalid,  he  found  it  irksome  to 
remain  too  long  in  one  place.  This  little  peculiarity, 
because  of  his  great  merits,  his  superiors  rather  fos- 
tered than  discouraged,  hoping  thus  to  prolong  the 
holy  man's  life.  He  spent  much  of  the  time  as  a  guest 
of  the  Dominican  Sisters  at  Blauvelt  and  Sparkill,  two 
communities  in  which  he  had  always  taken  a  lively  in- 
terest. Another  place  he  visited  was  Saint  Joseph's 
Priory,  Somerset,  Ohio,  where  he  had  received  the  re- 
ligious habit  and  made  his  profession  more  than  half 
a  century  before.  He  loved  Saint  Joseph's  and  wished 
to  see  it  again  before  his  death.  From  there  he  wrote 
to  Rev.  Bernard  McKenna: 

"  ST.  JOSEPH'S  CONVENT, 
"  SOMERSET,  OHIO,  October  24,  1915. 
"  Rev.  dear  Cousin: 

"Here  I  am  in  old  St.  Joseph's,  where  I  entered  the  Order 
fifty-three  years  ago.  What  recollections  the  old  place  conjures 
up!  All  that  were  here  then  are  gone  to  eternity,  and  the 
writer  must  soon  follow.  I  love  the  old  place,  its  sacred  tradi- 
tions, its  beautiful  surroundings.  The  weather  is  all  that  I 
could  wish,  and  the  fathers  are  more  than  kind  to  me.  My  health 
is  about  as  when  you  saw  me  last.  I  remain  here  another  week, 
and  then  will  go  to  Columbus  for  two  weeks,  after  which  I  may 
return  to  Washington,  or  go  direct  to  New  York  City. 


FATHER  MCKENNA  IN  HIS  LAST  DAYS. 


AN  INVALID.  375 

"Hoping  you  are  not  overburdened  with  work,  and  that  all 
are  well  at  home,  I  am,  yours  affectionately, 

"  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P." 

It  was  the  author's  privilege  to  accompany  Father 
McKenna  on  several  of  his  journeys  at  this  time; 
and  how  the  aged  missionary,  despite  his  illness,  re- 
tained his  genial  disposition  and  love  of  the  innocent 
jest  may  be  seen  from  the  following  incident.  At  the 
Washington  railway  station  he  discovered  that  his 
purse  had  escaped  through  a  hole  in  his  pocket,  and  his 
fare  had  to  be  paid  by  another.  Though  mortified, 
the  humble  friar  took  the  misfortune  good-naturedly. 
On  the  train  he  attracted  the  writer's  attention  with 
his  cane.  Then  he  said  with  a  smile:  "I  want  to  tell 
you  a  story.  Of  course  you  know  old  women  often 
use  their  stockings  as  a  purse;  but  I'll  bet  you  never 
heard  of  a  man  being  gifted  with  such  ingenuity. 
Now  this  old  gentleman  has  grown  wise  in  his  dotage, 
and  has  done  just  such  a  thing.  Look  down  there  in 
my  sock  and  you'll  find  the  lost  money."  He  thor- 
oughly enjoyed  the  incident  and  delighted  to  tell  it  to 
his  friends. 

Father  McKenna  never  grew  old,  except  in  body. 
Until  the  end  he  retained  his  splendid  voice,  his  ready 
wit  and  the  ways  of  a  young  man.  All  this  made 
conversation  with  him  a  pleasure,  and  was  a  source  of 
consolation  to  the  many  friends  who  visited  him  dur- 
ing the  time  he  was  an  invalid. 

During  all  his  priestly  life  the  missionary  had  kept 
up  an  extensive  correspondence,  for  people  from  every 
part  of  the  country  wrote  to  him  regarding  every  pos- 
sible subject,  but  especially  on  matters  pertaining  to 
the  soul.  Even  at  this  time,  he  sought  to  answer  all 


376  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

letters,  as  far  as  his  strength  allowed.  In  this  he  was 
greatly  aided  by  the  rapidity  which  long  practice  had 
given  him,  whether  in  writing  or  dictation,  and  by  his 
felicitous  way  of  saying  much  in  little  space.  Except 
on  business,  he  seldom  wrote  more  than  a  few  lines. 
The  following  letter  to  P.  F.  McDonnell,  of  New 
York,  may  serve  as  a  fair  sample  of  the  aged  apostle's 
responses  to  inquiries  about  his  health. 

"  DOMINICAN  HOUSE  OF  STUDIES, 
"WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  January  22,  1915. 
"  Dear  good  Patrick: 

"  This  is  to  let  you  know  that,  through  God's  love  and  mercy, 
I  am  improving  nicely  each  day.  I  received  your  letter  and 
reply  that  I  want  for  nothing,  except  more  love  for  God.  This 
is  the  sixth  letter  I  have  written  today. 

"  Ever  affectionately  yours, 

"  C.  H.  McKENNA." 

So  also  did  he  still  endeavor  to  keep  abreast  of  all 
that  concerned  the  Church  and  religion,  and  retain  his 
interest  in  the  Rosary  Confraternity  and  the  Holy 
Name  Society.  When  he  heard  that  the  membership 
of  the  latter  society  had  reached  a  million  and  a  half, 
the  zealous  old  apostle  exclaimed:  "Now,  I  should  be 
able  to  die  happy."  A  letter  belonging  to  this  time 
that  brought  him  special  satisfaction  was  one  from 
Brother  Joseph  Dutton,  Father  Damien's  successor  in 
the  work  of  caring  for  the  lepers  in  Hawaii.  This 
Christ-like  charity  had  always  made  a  strong  appeal  to 
the  Dominican  friar.  And  for  nearly  thirty  years  it 
had  been  his  wont  to  write  Brother  Joseph  an  occa- 
sional word  of  encouragement.  The  letter  from 
Hawaii  was  all  the  more  acceptable  because  accom- 
panied by  documents  giving  interesting  information 


AN  INVALID.  377 

on  the  life  of  the  present  hero  of  the  Molokai  leper 
colony.1 

Illness  could  not  chill  the  ardor  of  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  zeal.  Thus,  wherever  he  went  during  this 
time,  we  find  him  preaching  or  giving  conferences  to 
sisters;  but  his  weakness  was  such  that  he  was  obliged 
to  speak  sitting  in  a  chair. 

Three  incidents  showing  how  unquenchable  was  the 
holy  man's  zeal  to  do  good  belong  to  his  last  lengthy 
stay  at  the  House  of  Studies.  One  of  them  was  an 
appeal  made  to  the  Holy  Name  men  of  the  country  in 
behalf  of  an  undertaking  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin. Father  McKenna  always  maintained  that  love 
and  devotion  to  our  Lord  and  love  and  devotion  to 
His  Mother  should  go  hand  in  hand.  He  could  not 
separate  the  two.  All  his  life  the  apostle  of  the  Holy 
Name  had  strongly  urged  that  the  society  be  used 
solely  in  the  interest  of  men's  souls.  But  now  he  was 
to  make  his  one  exception  to  this  rule.  This  was  the 
Basilica  or  National  Shrine  of  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception, which  the  Catholic  University  is  preparing  to 
erect  on  its  grounds  at  the  National  Capital  as  the 
United  States'  greatest  artistic  tribute  to  the  Mother 
of  God.  In  this  noble  undertaking  the  humble  serv- 
ant of  Mary  thought  the  Holy  Name  Society  should 
have  its  part.  On  December  10,  1915,  therefore, 
through  the  columns  of  The  Holy  Name  Journal,,  he 

i  Brother  Joseph  Dutton's  deep  regard  for  Father  McKenna  may  be 
judged  from  an  Easter  card,  on  which  is  inscribed:  "To  dear  Father  Mc- 
Kenna, O.P.,  from  your  adopted  son,  Joseph  Dutton."  It  should  also  be 
noted  that  when  Brother  Joseph  was  thinking  of  devoting  his  life  to  the 
lepers  of  Molokai  he  went  to  consult  Father  McKenna  as  to  the  advisa- 
bility of  such  a  step.  And  it  is  said  that  the  hearty  encouragement  he 
received  from  the  zealous  Dominican  was  largely  responsible  for  his  taking 
up  that  heroic  work. 


378  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

addressed  a  letter  of  earnest  appeal  to  the  members 
of  the  society  through  all  the  country,  urging  them 
to  attest  their  love  of  Him  in  whose  name  they  were 
united,  by  contributing  to  such  a  commemoration  of 
His  blessed  Mother.2 

The  second  incident  to  which  we  have  referred  as 
belonging  to  this  period  was  a  sermon  preached  by 
him,  seated  in  a  chair,  to  the  aged  and  incapacitated 
Catholic  veterans  at  the  National  Soldiers'  Home  in 
Washington.  Just  six  years  before  Father  McKenna 
gave  one  of  his  last  missions  at  this  institution  and 
established  the  Holy  Name  Society  there.  He  was 
now  rejoiced  to  find  the  confraternity  in  a  flourishing 
state.  The  discourse  on  the  present  occasion,  deliv- 
ered in  Lent,  created  the  profoundest  impression  among 
these  former  defenders  of  the  country  and  continues 
to  be  a  frequent  topic  of  discussion  among  them.  The 
third  and  last  event  was  a  short  retreat  given  to  a 
friend  who  came  to  Washington  at  this  time  and  asked 
the  aged  friar  to  do  him  this  favor.  The  gentleman  in 
question  remarked  that  he  had  never  listened  to  any- 
thing quite  so  touching,  so  inspiring  or  so  sublime  as 
these  heart-to-heart  talks.  The  zealous  old  apostle, 
who  was  now  an  easy  prey  to  drafts,  caught  a  severe 
cold  while  giving  the  retreat;  but  so  intent  was  he  on 
his  work  that,  instead  of  going  to  bed,  as  he  should 
have  done,  he  continued  at  his  conferences  until  he 
was  brought  to  the  verge  of  pneumonia  and  had  to  be 
taken  to  the  hospital. 

But  one  of  the  most  edifying  things  in  Father  Mc- 
Kenna's  life,  while  he  was  an  invalid,  was  his  con- 
tinued effort  to  foster  vocations.  Not  merely  did  he 
keep  in  constant  touch  with  the  aspirants  to  the  priest- 

2  See  The  Holy  Name  Journal  of  January,  1916. 


AN  INVALID.  379 

hood  or  the  religious  life  whom  he  already  had  under 
his  protection;  he  sought  in  every  way  to  encourage 
and  to  aid  the  many  new  ones  who  felt  called  to  the 
"better  part"  and  had  recourse  to  his  guidance. 

The  missionary's  recurring  illness  had  so  sapped  his 
vitality  that  from  May,  1916,  he  had  to  keep  to  his  bed 
much  of  the  time.  As  a  pious  priest  his  greatest  pri- 
vation was  that  he  was  often  unable  to  say  mass. 
That  he  might  satisfy  his  devotion  to  his  eucharistic 
Lord  and  have  the  consolation  of  offering  up  the  holy 
sacrifice,  Rome,  because  of  his  great  merits  and  the 
intercession  of  Cardinal  Farley,  granted  the  invalid 
clergyman  the  extraordinary  privilege  not  only  of 
celebrating  mass  shortly  after  midnight  and  in  his 
room,  but  of  saying  it  in  a  sitting  posture  and  of  com- 
mencing at  the  offertory.  This  dispensation  he  did 
not  fail  to  use,  whenever  he  had  strength  enough  to 
say  mass  in  this  way,  but  was  unable  to  follow  the 
rubrics.  As  the  fall  advanced,  the  physicians,  fearing 
the  cold  of  the  north  might  bring  on  an  attack  of 
pneumonia  that  would  prove  fatal,  urged  the  aged 
religious  to  spend  the  winter  in  Florida.  To  this  plan 
Father  McKenna  gave  his  consent,  for  although  he 
had  now  become  convinced  that  he  could  not  expect 
to  return  to  active  work,  he  felt  he  would  like  to  live 
to  see  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  ordination  to  the 
priesthood.  His  provincial,  the  Very  Rev.  J.  R. 
Meagher,  O.P.,  advised  that  the  doctors'  suggestion  be 
followed,  and  promised  to  send  Brother  Dominic  Mul- 
lahy,  a  lay  brother,  as  companion  on  the  journey — a 
kindness  that  elicited  the  following  grateful  and  affec- 
tionate reply. 


380  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

i 

"ST.  DOMINIC'S  CONVENT, 
"  BLAUVEI/T,  ROCKLAND  Co.,  NEW  YOBK, 

"  November  6,  1916. 
"  Very  dear  Father  Provincial: 

"I  received  your  two  letters,  and  I  wish  to  express  to  you 
the  deep  gratitude  which  fills  my  heart.  Your  uniform  good- 
ness and  kindness  overpowers  me,  and  has  increased  not  only  my 
respect,  but  my  affection  for  you.  I  also  appreciate  the  many 
good  things  you  have  so  kindly  said  of  me.  The  world  sees  only 
the  better  side  of  the  picture.  I  can  understand  how  heavy  are 
your  burdens,  and  how  great  your  cares  must  be,  and  I  promise 
you  herewith  an  increase  of  prayers  and  supplications  in  your 
behalf. 

"Again  thanking  you  for  all  your  goodness  and  kindness 
towards  me  in  every  way,  as  also  for  sending  Brother  Dominic 
along  to  take  care  of  the  old  man,  I  remain  yours  very  affec- 
tionately and  obediently, 

"  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P." 

Five  days  later,  the  venerable  priest  started  for  the 
south,  but  stopped  at  Washington  to  rest  and  to  be  at 
the  House  of  Studies  for  the  celebration  of  the  seventh 
centenary  of  the  Order's  papal  confirmation,  at  which 
his  brethren  desired  his  presence.  The  celebration  ex- 
tended from  November  14  to  November  19,  and  was 
an  event  to  which  he  had  looked  forward  with  an  in- 
tense concern  because  he  expected  it  to  redound  to  the 
good  of  his  province,  as  well  as  to  the  glory  of  his 
institute.  To  no  one  more  than  to  the  aged  mission- 
ary did  the  words  of  praise  for  the  Order  of  Saint 
Dominic  spoken  in  the  various  discourses  at  these 
solemnities  make  a  stronger  appeal.  As  he  said,  they 
made  his  ears  "ring  with  delight."  Tears  of  joy 
glistened  in  his  eyes,  and  fervently  did  he  thank  God 
that  he  had  been  spared  to  see  that  day.  On  this  occa- 


AN  INVALID.  381 

sion,  as  has  been  said  on  a  previous  page,  no  one  was 
the  recipient  of  greater  honor  than  Father  McKenna. 
Cardinals  Gibbons  and  Farley,  the  Apostolic  Delegate 
and  all  the  other  prelates  and  clergy  went  specially  to 
the  room  of  the  revered  apostle  to  wish  him  well  and 
to  offer  him  their  sympathy  in  his  failing  health. 

The  same  week  the  provincial  called  a  meeting  of 
the  superiors  of  the  province  at  the  House  of  Studies. 
Because  they  feared  the  holy  man's  life  was  near  its 
end,  and  wished  to  hear  a  last  word  from  him  on  a 
subject  that  was  near  to  them,  the  fathers  requested 
the  veteran  missionary  to  address  them  on  vocations 
and  his  method  of  fostering  them.  This  he  did  in  his 
usual  earnest  and  affective  manner  for  nearly  an  hour. 
All  were  visibly  affected  by  the  talk,  for  no  one  knew 
better  than  Father  McKenna  how  to  reach  the  heart. 

The  above  address  was  delivered  on  the  morning  of 
November  16,  and  that  evening  (for  he  did  not  remain 
for  all  the  celebration),  Father  McKenna  continued 
his  way  to  Jacksonville.  Shortly  before  his  departure, 
the  clerical  students  gathered  to  say  good-by  to  their 
venerable  friend,  and  to  ask  a  few  words  of  spiritual 
advice.  But  the  saintly  priest  was  so  fatigued  and 
affected  that  he  could  speak  for  only  a  few  minutes. 
Closing  his  address  with:  "We  shall  dispense  with 
shaking  hands,  and  take  it  for  granted  that  there  is 
between  us  what  that  little  ceremony  signifies — a  union 
of  hearts," — he  then  bade  his  clerical  audience,  many  of 
whom  were  his  proteges,  to  kneel  for  his  blessing. 
With  a  fervent  "  God  bless  and  protect  all  of  you,"  he 
turned  to  go  for  his  train,  and  saw  none  of  them  again 
on  earth. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

DEATH,  BURIAL,  FINAL  HONORS. 
(1917) 

THE  balmy  air  of  Florida  agreed  with  the  veteran 
apostle,  and  at  first  he  gained  in  strength  under  the 
care  of  the  Sisters  of  Charity  at  Jacksonville.  But  in 
the  course  of  a  few  weeks  his  sickness  began  to  return. 
At  each  collapse  it  was  thought  he  could  not  survive. 
His  mind,  however,  remained  alert  and  vigorous,  his 
memory  retentive.  There  was  no  lessening  of  his  good 
humor;  and  when  he  was  not  too  weak,  his  cheerful 
disposition  was  as  a  ray  of  sunshine  to  those  around 
him. 

Early  in  February,  1917,  the  sick  man  was  seized 
with  his  last  attack.  Although  he  rallied  somewhat, 
he  never  grew  strong  enough  to  leave  his  bed.  From 
February  14  he  gradually  sank,  but  retained  conscious- 
ness almost  to  the  moment  when,  without  a  struggle 
and  fortified  by  the  rites  of  the  Church,  he  passed 
away  on  the  morning  of  February  21.  With  his  holy 
life  and  long  years  of  strenuous  service  behind  him, 
surely  the  aged  friar  could  with  no  small  measure  of 
assurance  have  said:  "Lord,  dying  I  salute  Thee,  for 
I  have  preserved  my  soul  from  the  world's  taint,  I 
have  fought  the  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course, 
I  have  kept  the  faith." 

Although  Father  McKenna's  demise  might  have 
been  expected  at  any  time  within  the  last  two  years 
of  his  life,  he  had  so  often  been  at  the  point  of  death 

382 


SAINT  VINCENT  FERRER'S  CONVENT    NEW  YORK. 


DEATH,  BURIAL,  FINAL  HONORS.  383 

and  had  so  often  rallied  that  the  announcement  came 
as  a  shock.  The  sorrow  caused  by  the  loss  of  so  great 
and  so  holy  a  priest  was  visible  on  the  countenance  of 
every  one.  The  body  of  the  venerable  missionary  was 
brought  north  by  Brother  Joseph  Corcoran,  who  had 
succeeded  Brother  Dominic  in  the  care  of  the  invalid. 
Upon  the  arrival  of  the  remains  in  New  York  City 
they  were  met  at  the  railway  station  by  a  large  delega- 
tion made  up  of  Dominican  Fathers,  many  personal 
friends  of  Father  McKenna,  and  hundreds  of  members 
of  the  Holy  Name  Society,  and,  thus  escorted,  were 
taken  to  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's  Priory,  Sixty-fifth 
Street  and  Lexington  Avenue,  where  they  lay  in  state 
until  half -past  five  o'clock,  Sunday  evening. 

Then  began  the  most  extraordinary  manifestation  of 
love  and  devotion  of  the  faithful  towards  a  simple 
priest  the  writer  has  ever  been  privileged  to  witness. 
From  the  time  Father  McKenna's  remains  were  laid 
in  state  in  the  parlor  of  the  priory  until  their  removal, 
more  than  two  days  later,  there  was  a  constant  stream 
of  friends,  admirers  and  Holy  Name  men  filing  past 
them  from  the  early  hours  of  the  morning  until  half- 
past  ten  at  night,  when  the  doors  of  the  convent  were 
closed.  They  came  not  merely  from  every  part  of 
New  York,  but  from  many  other  cities  and  towns, 
both  near  and  distant,  to  pay  their  respects  and  to  bid 
a  last  farewell  to  a  faithful  ambassador  of  Christ 
whom  they  had  known  or  admired  in  life — to  offer  up 
a  prayer  at  the  bier  of  one  from  whom  they  had  at 
some  time  received  a  spiritual  blessing. 

In  the  great  crowds  were  to  be  seen  people  of  every 
age  and  walk  of  life.  Tottering  age  vied  with  the 
vigor  of  manhood  in  showing  the  illustrious  Dominican 


384  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

honor  and  veneration;  while  side  by  side  the  very  rich 
and  the  very  poor  struggled  to  get  a  last  look  at  an 
humble  priest  who  somehow  had  won  the  homage  of  all 
hearts.  The  faces  of  all  showed  clearly  the  sorrow 
that  was  within  their  bosoms;  many  were  in  tears.  It 
was  an  extraordinary  manifestation  of  devotion.  But 
more  striking  still  was  the  fact  that  among  the  many 
thousands  who  viewed  the  holy  friar's  remains,  few 
came  without  a  rosary,  a  prayer-book  or  some  other 
religious  article  with  which  they  touched  his  hands,  his 
head,  or  his  beads — well  worn  by  long  years  of  use — , 
as  they  passed  along  in  procession.  No  greater  proof 
could  have  been  given  that  he  was  universally  regarded 
as  a  saint.  Through  the  nights  of  Friday  and  Satur- 
day, after  the  convent  doors  had  been  closed,  some 
three  hundred  men  of  the  Holy  Name  Society  from 
New  York  and  its  vicinity  were  permitted,  at  their 
own  request,  to  watch  and  pray  beside  the  coffin  of 
their  great  apostle. 

At  half -past  five  o'clock,  Sunday  evening,  February 
25,  Father  McKenna's  remains  were  transferred  from 
the  parlors  of  the  priory  to  the  temporary  church  on 
Sixty-seventh  Street,  between  Lexington  and  Third 
avenues.  Before  the  hearse  walked  the  community  of 
Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's  and  many  visiting  priests 
dressed  in  clerical  garb;  behind  it  followed  a  proces- 
sion of  fifteen  hundred  Holy  Name  men  and  sorrow- 
ing relatives  or  friends.  In  front  of  the  convent  and 
along  the  route  traversed  were  gathered  some  thou- 
sands of  persons  from  far  and  near.  The  church 
meanwhile  had  been  filled  to  its  utmost  capacity,  many 
having  come  an  hour  or  more  before  the  time  ap- 
pointed for  the  removal  of  the  remains.  To  show  their 


DEATH,  BURIAL,  FINAL  HONORS.  385 

esteem  for  the  departed  priest,  the  policemen  and  fire- 
men belonging  to  the  stations  across  the  street  from 
the  temporary  church  stood  in  line  along  the  pavement. 
As  the  hearse  passed  them,  the  former  held  their 
batons  at  salute,  and  the  latter  tolled  the  bells  of  their 
engines  which  had  been  brought  to  the  doors  of  their 
department. 

At  the  church,  streams  of  humanity  continued  to 
flow  in  to  bid  a  final  farewell  to  their  friend.  There 
again  was  the  same  intermingling  of  age  and  youth, 
of  wealth  and  poverty,  of  the  professional  classes  and 
the  common  laborer  that  characterized  the  crowds 
which  had  flocked  to  the  parlors  of  the  cloister  on  the 
same  errand  of  veneration.  There  was  shown  also  the 
same  anxiety  to  touch  the  remains  of  the  holy  man 
with  beads  or  other  religious  articles;  there  were  the 
same  expressions  of  grief. 

So  it  continued  until  eleven  o'clock  that  night,  when 
the  doors  of  the  sacred  edifice  were  closed.  But  just 
before  this  the  whole  Rosary  was  recited  in  unison  by 
the  great  multitude  present  for  the  repose  of  the  soul 
of  Father  McKenna.  This  night  also  several  hundred 
Holy  Name  men  kept  vigil  over  the  bier  of  their  so- 
ciety's apostle. 

On  Monday,  February  26,  masses  were  said  at  six, 
half-past  six,  eight  and  half-past  eight,  while  a  high 
requiem  for  the  deceased  missionary  was  sung  at  seven 
by  the  Very  Rev.  J.  R.  Heffernan,  prior  of  his  con- 
vent. At  all  these  services  and  up  to  nine  o'clock, 
when  the  funeral  cortege  started  for  the  cathedral,  the 
temporary  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's  Church,  which  seats 
eleven  hundred  persons  comfortably,  was  filled  with 
worshippers  who  prayed  for  the  dead  priest,  bade  him 

26 


386  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

an  affectionate  adieu,  and  carried  home  as  treasured 
relics  the  articles  which  had  touched  his  body.  It  was 
estimated  that  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  thousand 
people  viewed  Father  McKenna's  remains  while  they 
lay  in  state  in  the  convent  parlors  and  the  church. 
Many  came  from  points  as  far  distant  as  Fall  River, 
Boston,  Troy,  Baltimore,  Washington,  Pittsburgh  and 
Chicago. 

The  first  intention  had  been  to  bury  the  distin- 
guished missionary  from  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's 
Church  on  Saturday,  February  24.  Notice  to  this 
effect  had  been  sent  abroad;  but,  because  of  Father 
McKenna's  national  character  and  eminent  services  to 
the  American  Church,  Cardinal  Farley  and  Monsignor 
Michael  J.  Lavelle,  V.G.,  requested  that  this  honor 
be  given  to  the  diocesan  cathedral  and  that  the  funeral 
be  postponed  until  Monday,  February  26.  The 
kindly  request,  which  was  all  the  more  noteworthy  as 
this  arrangement  interfered  with  a  mission  under  way 
in  the  cathedral  parish,  was  gladly  accepted  by  the 
Dominican  Fathers.  The  change,  however,  was  an 
occasion  of  disappointment  to  many  who  had  come 
from  a  distance  with  the  expectation  of  being  present 
at  the  obsequies  on  Saturday,  but  could  not  remain 
until  the  later  date. 

From  the  Dominican  church  the  hearse  bearing  the 
remains  of  the  noted  preacher  was  escorted  by  fifteen 
hundred  Holy  Name  men  to  Saint  Patrick's  Cathe- 
dral, where  the  remains  were  met  at  the  doors  by  the 
rector,  Monsignor  Lavelle.  At  ten  o'clock  a  solemn 
requiem  mass  was  sung  by  Right  Rev.  Patrick  Hayes, 
auxiliary  bishop  of  New  York,  assisted  by  Revs.  Ber- 
nard A.  and  James  J.  McKenna,  cousins  of  the  de- 


DEATH,  BURIAL,  FINAL  HONORS.  387 

ceased,  as  deacon  and  subdeacon.  His  Eminence  Car- 
dinal Farley  presided  on  the  throne,  having  as  deacons 
of  honor  Rev.  Bernard  F.  Logan,  O.P.,  and  the  ven- 
erable Passionist,  Father  Robert  McNamara,  the  latter 
of  whom  asked  to  be  permitted  to  take  part  in  the 
ceremonies  in  honor  of  his  revered  fellow  missionary. 
The  sermon  was  preached  by  the  provincial  of  the  Do- 
minicans, Very  Rev.  J.  R.  Meagher.  After  the  mass, 
Cardinal  Farley,  assisted  by  Monsignor  John  Ed- 
wards, V.G.,  a  life-long  friend  of  Father  McKenna, 
gave  the  final  absolution. 

Seated  in  the  sanctuary  during  the  mass  were  the 
Right  Rev.  John  J.  Nilan,  bishop  of  Hartford,  the 
Right  Rev.  John  J.  McCort,  auxiliary  bishop  of  Phila- 
delphia, fifteen  or  more  red-robed  monsignori  and  some 
two  hundred  priests,  from  various  parts  of  the  coun- 
try. Of  these  latter  about  eighty  were  Dominicans,  the 
others  either  diocesan  clergy  or  representatives  of  re- 
ligious orders.  Another  noteworthy  tribute  to  the  holy 
friar  was  the  presence  in  the  church  of  some  hundreds 
of  sisters  belonging  to  various  communities  that  had 
received  the  spiritual  ministrations  of  the  apostolic 
priest. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Father  McKenna's 
death  had  not  been  advertised,  that  the  date  and  place 
of  his  obsequies  had  been  changed,  and  that  few  among 
the  multitudes  who  had  attended  the  masses  at  Saint 
Vincent  Ferrer's  were  present,  Father  McKenna's  was 
one  of  the  largest  funerals  ever  held  at  Saint  Patrick's 
Cathedral.  It  is  estimated  that  between  four  and 
five  thousand  lay  people  were  present,  among  them 
many  members  of  the  dead  priest's  beloved  Holy 
Name  Society.  Here  again  was  to  be  noticed  the 


388  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

varied  character  of  the  apostle's  admirers,  for  there 
were  both  young  and  old,  rich  and  poor.  Tears  were 
in  the  eyes  of  many.  A  number  of  colored  persons 
could  be  seen  here  and  there  in  the  great  edifice. 
These  probably  remembered  or  had  heard  of  the  interest 
shown  by  Father  McKenna  in  those  of  their  race  in 
the  early  years  of  his  ministry  in  New  York,  and  came 
to  show  their  gratitude. 

By  reason  of  the  numbers  who  had  viewed  the  re- 
mains while  they  lay  in  state  at  St.  Vincent's  Priory 
and  Church,  it  was  thought  it  would  not  be  necessary 
to  open  the  casket  in  the  cathedral,  and  orders  were 
given  to  that  effect.  At  the  request  of  Cardinal  Far- 
ley, however — who  said  there  were  still  many  who, 
like  himself,  would  like  to  see  for  the  last  time  the  ven- 
erable servant  of  God — ,  the  command  was  cancelled. 
So  after  the  sermon  the  vast  throng  which  filled  the 
stately  Gothic  edifice,  filed  up  the  middle  aisle  past  the 
bier  of  the  dead  priest.  Again  it  was  noticed  that 
few  out  of  these  thousands  failed  to  touch  his  remains 
with  some  religious  article. 

This  ceremony  over,  Father  McKenna's  remains 
were  taken  to  Calvary  Cemetery.  Several  hundred 
persons  followed  them  to  their  last  resting  place.  At 
the  grave  about  sixty  Dominicans  and  some  friends 
among  the  secular  clergy  sang  the  Benedictus  in  har- 
mony. Then  he  was  laid  to  rest. 

Many  bishops  and  priests  who  were  unable  to  attend 
Father  McKenna's  funeral — whether  because  they  did 
not  receive  word  in  time,  had  prior  engagements,  were 
unwell  or  lived  too  far  away — sent  letters  or  telegrams 
that  eloquently  testified  their  love  and  high  regard  for 
the  faithful  apostle.  Bishop  Dougherty  of  Buffalo, 


DEATH,  BURIAL,  FINAL  HONORS.  389 

for  instance,  wrote  to  Rev.  Bernard  A.  McKenna  that, 
had  he  learned  sooner  of  his  friend's  death,  he  would 
gladly  have  come  from  Florida  for  the  obsequies. 
And  Bishop  Shahan  wrote  to  the  Very  Rev.  J.  R. 
Meagher,  O.P.,  provincial: 

"  OFFICE  OF  THE  RECTOR, 
"THE  CATHOLIC  UNIVERSITY  OF  AMERICA, 

"Washington,  D.  C., 

"March  14,  1917. 
"  Dear  Father  Meagher: 

"I  was  in  the  far  west  when  dear  Father  McKenna  passed 
away,  and  reached  here  only  a  few  days  ago.  Though  tardy, 
my  sympathy  for  you  all  is  none  the  less  sincere.  That  great 
and  good  man  of  God  is  surely  now  intercessor  for  us  all,  in 
the  company  of  angels  and  saints,  with  so  many  of  his  white- 
robed  brethren.  His  time  had  come,  no  doubt,  yet  we  all  feel 
poorer  for  his  loss,  and  know  that  we  shall  not  easily  look  upon 
his  like  in  our  day  and  time.  I  loved  him  from  our  first  ac- 
quaintance, as  indeed  everyone  did,  and  confided  in  him  as  in  one 
who  had  the  secret  of  goodness  and  mercy,  and  gladly  made  it 
known  to  all  men.  From  his  urn  he  will  long  speak  to  you  all 
and  to  us,  his  friends  and  admirers. 

"  With  best  wishes,  very  sincerely  yours  in  Christo. 

"  THOMAS  J.  SHAHAN." 

Two  other  short  letters  and  a  telegram,  taken  off- 
hand from  the  many  sent  Rev.  J.  R.  Heffernan,  will 
suffice  to  show  the  character  of  the  rest. 

"  SPRINGFIELD,  MASSACHUSETTS, 

"  February  24,  1917. 
"Dear  Father: 

"  My  deep  and  ever  abiding  esteem  for  good  Father  McKenna 
will  keep  his  memory  green  *  ad  alt  are.' 

"  Yours  in  Christ 

"  THOMAS  D.  BEAVEN." 


390  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

"  OGDENSBURG, 
"February  24th,  1917. 
"Rev.  Dear  Father: 

"I  regret  very  much  that  I  cannot,  by  being  present  at  the 
funeral,  testify  my  esteem  for  the  lamented  Preacher  General  of 
your  Order.  He  was  a  new  Bernardine  of  Sienna.  I  will  pray 
for  him  here. 

"  Respectfully, 

"  H.  GABRIELS, 
"Bishop  of  Ogdensburg." 

"MANCHESTER,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE, 

"February  24,  1917. 

"My  heartfelt  sympathies  over  the  death  of  the  great  and 
saintly  Father  McKenna. 

"  G.  A.  GUERTIN." 

Letters  of  condolence  were  also  received  from  a 
number  of  young  aspirants  to  the  priesthood  who  were 
still  under  the  holy  man's  guidance  or  protection. 
One  of  those  addressed  to  Saint  Vincent  Ferrer's, 
New  York,  will  serve  as  sample  of  the  others. 

"  EPIPHANY  APOSTOIJC  COLLEGE, 
"WALBROOK,  BALTIMORE,  MARYLAND, 

"February  26th,  1917. 
"My  dear  Rev.  Fathers: 

"  The  sorrowful  news  of  your  sudden  and  unexpected  bereave- 
ment in  the  loss  of  dear  Father  McKenna  has  just  reached  me, 
and  I  hasten  to  join  with  the  other  students  here  in  extending  to 
you  all  our  heartfelt  sympathy.  We  had  Holy  Mass  offered  for 
him  this  morning,  and  we  shall  remember  him  daily  in  our  pray- 
ers and  Holy  Communions.  If  you  have  any  memorial  cards,  I 
should  be  very  pleased  if  you  would  send  me  a  few  by  return 
mail. 

"Again  assuring  you  all  of  our  heartfelt  sorrow,  I  remain, 
yours  sincerely  in  Christ. 

"  JOHN  F.  COSTELLO." 


DEATH,  BURIAL,  FINAL  HONORS.  391 

Numerous,  indeed,  were  the  masses  offered  up  for 
the  venerable  apostle.  As  shown  by  the  Catholic 
papers,  pastors  scattered  throughout  the  land,  remem- 
bering some  mission  or  other  service  conducted  by  him 
in  their  respective  churches  as  far  back  as  thirty  years 
or  more,  sang  a  requiem  mass  for  the  repose  of  his  soul 
in  token  of  their  love,  respect  and  gratitude.  From 
communities  of  sisters  from  far  and  wide  came  letters 
such  as  those  the  reader  has  just  seen.  In  every  in- 
stance they  promised  masses. 

Rarely,  indeed,  has  the  Catholic  press  devoted  so 
much  space  to  the  death  of  a  priest  as  in  the  case  of 
Father  McKenna.  Every  Catholic  paper  contained  a 
eulogy  of  the  great  apostle  and  the  burden  of  each 
is  the  same  as  that  of  the  appreciation  we  have  just 
quoted.  As  the  Catholic  News  of  March  3,  for  in- 
stance, remarks  in  its  beautiful  editorial: 

"  Mother  Church  is  slow  in  her  process  of  saint-making,  but  in 
the  unofficial  roster  of  uncanonized  saints  Americans  will  place 
high  the  name  of  the  venerable  Dominican  whom  his  confreres 
have  titled  the  Apostle  of  the  Holy  Name  and  Apostle  of  the 
Rosary.  No  wonder  that  in  the  crowds  pressing  about  his  bier 
for  a  last  look  at  the  dead  Dominican  faith  prompted  thousands 
to  touch  with  their  medals  and  Rosaries  the  priest's  lifeless 
hands." 

Another  striking  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Father 
McKenna  which  we  shall  reproduce  here,  is  an  editorial 
that  appeared  in  the  Monitor  of  New  Jersey,  March 
10,  1917,  under  the  caption  of  "The  Passing  of  a 
Veteran  Missionary."  It  is  evidently  from  the  gifted 
pen  of  the  Monitor's  editor,  Rev.  William  P.  Cant- 
well,  LL.D.,  a  lifelong  friend  of  the  deceased  mis- 
sionary. Not  merely  has  Doctor  Cantwell's  tribute  a 


392  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

delightful  personal  touch  to  it;  it  presents  a  charming 
picture  of  Father  McKenna's  deeply  religious  charac- 
ter and  fidelity  to  rule,  as  well  as  of  his  tireless  and 
ceaseless  zeal  in  the  cause  of  souls. 

"  There  passed  away  last  week,  up  in  the  eighties,  a  wonder- 
ful missionary,  the  Very  Rev.  Charles  McKenna,  O.P.  Cardinal 
Gibbons  said  of  the  venerable  Dominican  that  he  was  the  greatest 
missionary  the  United  States  has  ever  produced.  Father  Mc- 
Kenna was  an  exact  and  faithful  religious,  a  model  priest  and 
zealous  missionary.  Those  who  knew  the  venerable  man  inti- 
mately— and  it  was  the  writer's  privilege  to  know  him  well — re- 
call with  what  scrupulous  exactness  he  lived  up  to  the  rule  of 
St.  Dominic.  He  wore  the  white  habit  of  his  Order  untarnished 
through  the  gathering  years,  until  it  became  for  him  the  robe 
of  glory.  We  remember  him  as  he  seized  a  broken  week  of  rest 
down  by  the  soothing  waves  with  relatives  who  venerated  him. 
He  was  the  first  to  reach  the  church  and  after  meditation  to  say 
Mass.  Later  on  in  the  day,  his  tall  form,  haloed  with  the  snow 
of  many  holy  years,  was  prostrate  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament. 
It  was  characteristic  of  Father  McKenna  that  he  always  brought 
with  him  two  companions,  some  youth,  generally  some  Dominican 
aspirant,  whom  he  sought  to  form  for  the  sanctuary,  and  a  pious 
book.  He  was  never  sure  that  he  was  not  going  to  preach  some- 
where— and  we  never  had  him  for  the  following  Sunday.  The 
book  always  aided  him  in  shaping  the  sermon  which  his  devout 
life  had  long  since  prepared.  Father  McKenna  was  tireless  in 
the  pulpit,  a  true  son  of  the  preaching  Saint  Dominic.  There 
were  two  devotions  which  always  claimed  his  special  attention 
and  through  them  he  directed  many  souls  in  the  way  of  Christian 
perfection — the  Rosary  and  the  Holy  Name.  He  never  tired 
talking  of  Our  Blessed  Mother  and  her  Divine  Son.  They  were 
the  constant  burden  of  his  heart  and  tongue. 

"  Father  McKenna  was  tall  and  spare  and  ascetic — some,  in- 
deed, might  call  him  gaunt — and  his  every  aspect  and  movement 
was  serious  and  dignified  as  became  the  sacred  truths  he  taught. 


DEATH,  BURIAL,  FINAL  HONORS.  393 

His  speech  was  fervent  and  vigorous  and  ripened  into  an  elo- 
quence that  was  Savonarola-like  in  its  intensity.  He  was  a 
prophet  of  God  calling  the  modern  days  to  repentance.  Those 
who  heard  him  preach  never  forgot  him.  The  life  of  Father 
McKenna  was  an  inspiration  to  the  priesthood  of  America. 
*  The  zeal  of  thy  house  hath  eaten  me  up.'  He  was  devoured  by 
a  zeal  that  not  even  the  snows  of  age  could  dampen  or  restrain. 
His  memory  remains  a  benediction  to  the  American  Church." 

Thus  was  Father  McKenna  honored  in  death  as  he 
had  been  honored  in  life.  This  is  the  more  remarkable 
because  the  great  orator,  lecturer,  missionary  and 
apostle  had  been  practically  dead  to  the  world  for  two 
and  a  half  years.  He  was  a  striking  exception  to  the 
rule,  "  Out  of  sight,  out  of  mind."  The  memory  of 
the  honor  paid  his  remains  as  they  lay  in  state  at  Saint 
Vincent  Ferrer's  Convent  and  Church  is  one  which 
will  long  be  cherished  by  Dominicans.  More  than 
once  on  this  occasion  the  writer  overheard  such  re- 
marks as  the  following  from  those  who  came  to  pay 
God's  holy  servant  their  last  respects:  "Never  was  the 
grand  old  priest  more  eloquent  in  his  finest  sermons 
than  now,  lying  here  cold  and  lifeless."  "  Never  could 
his  preaching  have  been  more  effective  for  good." 
"  Did  you  ever  see  anything  so  edifying  as  these  great 
sorrowing  crowds?"  "Not  in  a  generation  or  more 
will  this  funeral  be  forgotten."  But  may  we  not  add 
that  for  generations  to  come  Father  McKenna's  mem- 
ory will  continue  to  be  treasured  throughout  the 
country?  The  influence  of  his  saintly  life  will  long  be 
felt;  the  good  he  accomplished  must  live  after  him; 
the  light  he  cast  will  not  cease  to  shine;  the  honor  due 
his  name  will  be  recorded  in  letters  of  gold  on  the 
pages  of  our  American  church  history.  As  Judge 


394  VERY  REV.  C.  H.  McKENNA,  O.P. 

Morgan   J.    O'Brien,    in  the   letter   already   quoted,1 
justly  writes  of  the  celebrated  missionary: 

"...  He  has  gone  to  his  reward,  leaving  a  memory  that  will 
long  live  as  a  benediction.  Having  reached  the  fulness  of  his 
years,  his  work  done,  in  the  odor  of  sanctity  and  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Order  of  his  choice,  taking  with  him  the  affection  and  ad- 
miration of  his  associates  in  religion  and  bereaved  and  followed 
by  thousands  of  grateful  and  sorrowing  people,  he  has  passed 
from  earth  to  heaven. 

"  When  the  history  of  our  times  and  the  Church  in  the  United 
States  is  written,  it  must  contain  a  recital  of  his  manifold  deeds 
and  marvelous  career.  Then,  like  those  who  knew  him  on  earthr 
those  of  future  generations  who  will  study  his  life  and  realize 
what  he  accomplished,  will  bless  his  name  and  hold  him  in  ven- 
eration as  a  great  and  holy  priest,  as  a  zealous  and  eloquent 
missionary,  as  a  true  friend  of  the  poor  and  the  sinner,  as  a 
devoted  religious  who  consecrated  a  life  of  unusual  force  and 
capacity  to  the  service  of  religion  and  humanity." 

i  See  pages  312-314. 


INDEX. 


Absalon,  Tomb  of,  326 
Ain  Karim,  visit  to,  323 
Aix-les-Bains,  visit  to,  258 
Albany,   N.  Y.,   Dominican  mission 

in,  196 
Albert  the  Great,  80;  burial  place, 

212 

Alexandria,  Egypt,  visit  to,  320 
Algiers,  visit  to,  319 
American  College,  Rome,  address  to 

students  of,  329 

American  Ecclesiastical  Review,  280 
Ancarani,  Most  Rev.  Angelus,  34 
Angelic  Guide,  137 
Angelic   Warfare,    growth   of,   156; 

Fr.  McKenna's  work  for,  136-137, 

179,  351 
Annunciation,  Church  of,  Nazareth, 

322 

Antrim,  McDonalds  of,  6 
Antwerp,  visit  to,  212 
Apostolic    Delegate    (Archbishop 

Bonzano),   respect   paid    by,   264, 

380 
Aquinas  College,  Columbus,  O.,  157, 

368 

Ardstrath  (or  Ardstraw),  see  of,  2 
Arona,  Castle  of,  234 
Asia,  Hyacinth's  labors  in,  237 
Assumption,   Church   of,   Brookline, 

Mass.,  mission  in,  222-223 
Assumption,    Church    of,    Philadel- 
phia, mission  in,  222,  223 
Athens,  visit  to,  327 
Atlanta,  Ga.,  Dominican  mission  in, 

288 
Augusta,    Ga.,    Dominican    mission 

in,  273-276;  lectures  in,  281 
Augusta  Chronicle,  cited,  274,  275 
Avila,  visit  to,  256 


Baltimore,  Dominican  missions  in, 
287-288,  289;  Holy  Name  Con- 
gress in,  344-346 

Baltimore  Evening  News,  287 

Baltimore  Sun,  287 

Bankston  Settlement,  la.,  29,  62 

Barbierri,  Rt.  Rev.  Remigio  G., 
vicar  apostolic  of  Gibraltar,  319 

Barr,  Mrs.  Amelia,  quoted,  276 

Barr,  Lilly,  276 

Beaven,  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  D.,  letter 
from,  389 

Behring  Straits,  attempt  to  explore 
Arctic  via,  189 

Belfast  Weekly  Telegraph,  cited,  2n. 

Belgium,  visit  to,  210 

Bennett,  James  Gordon,  polar  ex- 
pedition financed  by,  188 

Besson,  Pere,  72n. 

Betanzos,  Fray  Domingo  de,  316, 
326 

Bethlehem,  visit  to,  323,  325 

Beyrout,  visit  to,  327 

Bianchi,  Father  Raymond,  procura- 
tor general,  176 

Blauvelt,  N.  Y.,  Dominican  Sisters 
of,  335,  374 

Blessed  Imelda  Sodality,  351 

Blessed  Sacrament,  Fr.  McKenna's 
devotion  to,  145-147,  247,  379,392 

Blessed  Virgin,  lecture  on,  281 

Blessed  Virgin,  Cathedral  of,  Milan, 
213 

Bologna,  visit  to,  213-214 

Bologna,  University  of,  236 

Bonzano,  Most  Rev.  John,  Apostolic 
Delegate,  264,  381 

Boston,  Mass.,  Dominican  missions 
in,  178,  194,  201,  219,  222,  223, 
308-309 


395 


396 


INDEX. 


Bradley,  Isaac,  preceptor  of  Fr. 
McKenna,  18 

Bradley,  Mary,  152 

Bradley,  Rev.  Paul,  curate  of  Glen,  4 

Brennan,  Rev.  Daniel  A.,  mission 
for,  222 

Brookline,  Mass.,  Dominican  mis- 
sion in,  222-223 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Dominican  mis- 
sions in,  117-118,  133-134,  135- 
136,  162,  194,  195,  198-199,  201, 
202,  209,  222,  223,  225;  Holy 
Name  rally  in,  356 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  Dominican  mission 
in,  178 

Burke,  Rt.  Rev.  ~M.gr.  John  E.,  work 
among  negroes,  113,  114n.,  116 

Burke,  Father  Tom,  eloquence  of, 
80,  171,  313,  348;  in  America,  104, 
108,  114,  123-130,  131-132,  160- 
161;  controversy  with  Froude, 
126-127;  memorial  church  to, 
211;  burial  place,  129,  259,  333 

Burtsell,  Rev.  Dr.  Richard  L.,  in- 
terest in  colored  Catholics,  112— 
113 

Butler,  Rev.  Alban,  Lives  of  the 
Saints,  15 

Byrne,  Rev.  Stephen,  mission  by,  96 

Byrne,  Rev.  Dr.  William,  mission 
for,  201 

Cadiz,  visit  to,  256 

Cairo,  Egypt,  visit  to,  320 

California,  Dominicans  in,  24;  visit 
to,  349 

Calvary,  Mt,  visit  to,  323,  326 

Calvary  Cemetery,  N.  Y.,  burial  of 
Fr.  McKenna  in,  388 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  Dominican  mis- 
sion in,  195 

Campania,  ship,  333 

Canada,  Holy  Name  Society  in,  355 

Cancer,  Rev.  Louis,  80 

Canevin,  Rt.  Rev.  J.  F.  Regis,  bishop 
of  Pittsburgh,  357 


Cantwell,  Very  Rev.  Nicholas,  mis- 
sion for,  244 

Cantwell,  Rev.  Dr.  William  P.,  ap- 
preciation by,  391-393 

Carmelite  Nuns,  establishment  of, 
256 

Carroll,  Charles,  of  Carrollton,  de- 
scendants, 319 

Carroll,  Rt.  Rev.  John,  and  the  Do- 
minicans, 24 

Cassidy,  John,  29 

Cassidy,  Mary  (McKenna),  sister 
of  Fr.  McKenna,  20,  152;  mar- 
riage, 29 

Catacombs,  Roman,  214,  216 

Catherine  of  Bologna,  St.,  relics  of, 
214 

Catherine  of  Ricci,  St.,  body  of,  217 

Catherine  of  Sienna,  St.,  altar  of, 
216;  home  of,  217;  ideals,  239 

Catholic  Encyclopedia,  cited,  71  n. 

Catholic  Examiner,  quoted,  195-196 

Catholic  Historical  Review,  cited, 
319n. 

Catholic  Knights  of  America,  185, 
186 

Catholic  Mirror,  cited,  287-288 

Catholic  News,  quoted,  391 

Catholic  Review,  quoted,  135-136, 
181-182 

Catholic  Standard,  quoted,  203,  223 

Catholic  Standard  and  Times, 
quoted,  295-296,  357-858 

Catholic  University,  National  Shrine 
at,  377-378 

Cendra,  Francis,  80 

Ceslas,  Blessed,  80,  236 

Charity,  sketch  of  sermon  on,  138- 
140 

Charles  Borromeo,  St.,  4;  biograph- 
ical sketch,  213,  234-235;  visit  to 
tomb  of,  330 

Charleston,  S.  C.,  Dominican  mis- 
sions in,  281,  288 

Chicago,  Dominican  mission  in,  223 

China,  martyrs  of,  329 

Chocarne,  Rev.  Alphonsus  B.,  rela- 


INDEX. 


397 


tions     with     Fr.     McKenna,     60; 

ideals  of,  72;  Ollivier's  work  on, 
72n. 

Christian  Union,  lecture  on,  281 
Cincinnati,  retreat  in  cathedral  of, 

218 
Clarkson,  Rev.  Sydney  A.,  president 

of  Sinsinawa  Mound,  38 
Clay,  Henry,  anecdote  of,  141 
Clement  VIII,  canonization  by,  237; 

constitution    restricting    Holy 

Name  and   Rosary  societies,  257, 

277,  278,  280 
Coenaculum,  visit  to,  326 
Collins,  Jerome  J.,  funeral  of,  188, 

189-192 

Cologne,  visit  to,  212 
Colton,  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  H.,  bishop 

of  Buffalo,  220 
Concanen,  Rt .  Rev.  Richard  L.,  first 

bishop  of  N.  Y.,  tomb  of,  319 
Confederate  armies,  chaplains,  38 
Connecticut,  Dominican  missions  in, 

221 

Constantine,  Basilica  of,  visit  to,  325 
Constantinople,  visit  to,  327 
Corcoran,  Brother  Joseph,  383 
Cordova,  visit  to,  256 
Cork,  visit  to,  333 

Cormier,  Most  Rev.  Hyacinth,  Mas- 
ter   General,    golden    jubilee    of, 

329;  blessing  of,  345 
Corrigan,    Most    Rev.    Michael    A., 

archbishop  of  N.  Y.,  193,  298-299 
Costello,  John  F.,  letter  from,  390 
Cracow,  University  of,  236 
Crimmins,  Thomas,  interest  in  poor, 

115 
Cumans,  mission  to,  237 

Damien,  Father,  missionary  to  lep- 
ers, successor  to,  376 

David,  Temple  of,  326 

Dead  Sea,  visit  to,  326 

De    Cantillon,    Father    Edward    P., 
mission  by,  205 
27 


Delahunty,  Rev.  John,  mission  for, 
201 

DeLong,  Lieut.  George  W.,  polar 
expedition  under,  188-189;  fu- 
neral of,  192 

Denmark,  Hyacinth's  labors  in,  237 

Denver,  Col.,  retreats  in,  221,  245; 
mission  in  cathedral  of,  233 

Derry,  bishopric  removed  to,  2; 
McKennas  of,  5,  6;  McDonalds 
of,  6;  visit  to,  333 

Detroit,  Mich.,  Dominican  mission 
in,  178 

Divinity  of  Christ,  lecture  on,  281, 
358 

Dominic,  St.,  Drane's  Lives  of,  71  n.; 
mottoes  of,  145;  tomb  of,  214; 
ideals  of,  224,  228,  239;  miracles 
of,  236-237;  birthplace,  256;  Or- 
der of,  see  Dominicans 

Dominican  House  of  Studies,  Wash- 
ington, see  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion, Dominican  College  of 

Dominican  Lyceum,  organized,  186 

Dominican  Manual,  137,  138,  164 

Dominican  Year  Book,  160n. 

Dominicans,  in  Ireland,  17;  in  U.S., 
24;  ceremony  of  receiving  habit 
of,  40-42;  novitiate,  42-47;  re- 
ligious profession,  47-49;  Pope's 
Friar  Preacher,  48n.,  71  n.;  no- 
vitiate of  professed  clerics,  50- 
51,  55-56;  spirit  and  aims  of,  67- 
71,  79-80,  172-173,  228;  French, 
71-72;  Constitutions,  71n.;  Que- 
tif-Echard's  Scriptores,  71n.; 
O'Connor's  St.  Dominic  and  the 
Order  of  Preachers,  71n.; 
O'Daniel's  Friars  Preacher,  71  n.; 
early  missions,  80-92;  lack  of 
records  of,  101-102,  103;  visita- 
tions of  Masters  General,  123; 
missions,  156,  249-250,  see  also 
names  of  places;  made  preachers 
general,  173-177;  retreats,  186; 
seventh  centenary  celebration,  264, 
380;  of  Mexico,  316;  beatification 


398 


INDEX. 


of,  329,  330;  devotion  to  Rosary, 
347-348;  at  Fr.  McKenna's  fu- 
neral, 383,  384,  387,  388;  see  also 
Holy  Name  Society;  Rosary  Con- 
fraternity; St.  Joseph's;  St.  Louis 
Bertrand's;  St.  Rose's;  St.  Vin- 
cent Ferrer's;  Sinsinawa  Mound; 
names  of  individual  Dominicans 
and  places  of  missions 

Dominican  Sisters,  Somerset,  O.,  59 ; 
Springfield,  Ky.,  62;  for  work 
among  the  poor,  111,  114-116;  re- 
treats for,  208;  N.  Y.,  217,  374; 
English,  visit  to,  259;  conferences 
with,  335 

Donnelly,  Eleanor,  poem  by,  360 

Donohue,  Rt.  Rev.  P.  J.,  bishop  of 
Wheeling,  letter  from,  301 

Dougherty,  Catherine  (McKenna), 
comes  to  America,  20;  marriage, 
29n.;  letters  to,  57-58,  151-153 

Dougherty,  Rt.  Rev.  Dennis  J., 
bishop  of  Buffalo,  letter  from, 
388-389 

Dougherty,  Francis,  29n. 

Dougherty,  John,  godson  of  Fr. 
McKenna,  death  of,  151-153 

Dougherty,  Mary,  29n.,  58n.,  152n., 
153n. 

Dougherty,  Roger,  29n. 

Downey,  William  U.,  206 

Doyle,  John  F.,  317,  328 

Dublin,  visit  to,  332,  333 

Dubuque,  la.,  Fr.  McKenna  in,  29, 
34;  custom-house,  31 

Duffy,  Rev.  James  F.,  198 

Dunn,  Very  Rev.  Francis  J.,  pro- 
vincial, 93,  112 

Dutton,  Brother  Joseph,  corre- 
spondence with,  376-377 

Echard,  tee  Qudtif-Echard 
Edelen,    Father    James    V.,    made 

preacher  general,  174 
Edwards,  Rt.   Rev.   Mgr.  John,   at 

Fr.  McKenna's  funeral,  387 
Elder,  Most  Rev.  William  H.,  arch- 


bishop of  Cincinnati,  friendship 
of,  218;  letter  from,  300 

Elias,  prophet,  visit  to  grotto  of, 
322 

Elizabeth,  St.,  visit  to  home  of,  325 

Elliott,  Father  Walter,  apprecia- 
tion by,  309-310 

Emmaus,  visit  to,  326 

England,  visit  to,  210 

Esser,  Most  Rev.  Thomas,  secretary 
of  the  Index,  329 

Evangeline,  quoted,  348-349 

Fahy,  Rev.  Anthony  D.,  52 

Faith,  lecture  on,  281 

Fall  River,  Mass.,  Dominican  mis- 
sion in,  202 

Fallagloon,  McKennas  of,  5 

Fallalea,  birthplace  of  Fr.  Mc- 
Kenna, 3;  McKennas  of,  5;  Mc- 
Kenna homestead,  18,  19,  22,  23; 
visit  to,  120,  210,  259,  333 

Fanjeaux,  visit  to,  210 

Farley,  John  Cardinal,  appreciation 
by,  239-241;  request  of,  335;  re- 
spect paid  by,  381;  and  Fr.  Mc- 
Kenna's funeral,  386,  387,  388 

Farmer,  Rev.  E.  J.,  abroad  with  Fr. 
McKenna,  210-217 

Farrell,  Father  Thomas,  interest  in 
colored  Catholics,  112-113 

Fenwick,  Rt.  Rev.  Benedict  J.,  52 

Fenwick,  Rt.  Rev.  Edward  D.,  la- 
bors, 33, 52, 53-54,  60,  80,  81;  con- 
secrated bishop  of  Cincinnati,  54 ; 
spirit  of,  226 

Fitchburg,  Mass.,  mission  in,  175 

Fitzgerald,  Very  Rev.  E.  G.,  ad- 
dress by,  360 

Flaget,  Rt.  Rev.  Benedict  J.,  bishop 
of  Louisville,  53,  157 

Flagellation,  Chapel  of  the,  visit 
to,  323 

Flood,  Most  Rev.  Patrick  V.,  arch- 
bishop of  Trinidad,  211,  257,  259 

Florence,  Italy,  visit  to,  217 

Florida,  visit  to,  379,  381-382 


INDEX. 


399 


Foisset,   Vie  du  R.  P.  Lacordaire, 

72n. 
Ft.     Wayne,    retreat    to     diocesan 

clergy  of,  290 
France,  Dominicans  of,  71-72;  visit 

to,  210 
Franciscan  Sisters,  Hopewell,  N.  J., 

371 
Freeman's    Journal,    quoted,    82-84, 

85-86,   87,   97,    100,   102-103,   117, 

156,    160n,    178n.,    195-196,    199- 

200,  219 

Friars  Preacher,  see  Dominicans 
Froude,     James     Anthony,     contro- 
versy   with    Father    Tom    Burke, 

126-127 
Friihwirth,     Andrew     Cardinal,     as 

Master    General,    256,    279,    297; 

honor  shown  by,  328-329 

Gabriels,  Rt.  Rev.  H.,  bishop  of 
Ogdensburg,  letter  from,  390 

Galena,  111,  college  proposed  for, 
34 

Gallagher,  Rt.  Rev.  Nicholas  A., 
bishop  of  Galveston,  clerical  re- 
treat for,  221 

Galveston,  Tex.,  Dominican  missions 
in,  178,  244;  retreat  for  diocesan 
clergy  of,  221 

Gate  of  Heaven,  Church  of,  South 
Boston,  mission  in,  222 

Gaudengi,  Father  Thomas  M.,  pro- 
vincial of  Dacia  and  Socius,  176 

Genoa,  visits  to,  256,  258,  319,  330 

Gethsemane,  Garden  of,  visit  to, 
323,  325 

Ghent,  chapter  held  at,  124 

Gibbons,  James  Cardinal,  quoted, 
289;  permission  of,  297;  appre- 
ciation by,  307-808;  celebration 
jn  honor  of,  344;  preface  by,  351; 
respect  paid  by,  381 

Gibraltar,  visits  to,  256,  319 

Gillespie,  Anna  and  John,  tee  Mc- 
Donald 


Gillespie,   Charles,  brother  of  Mrs. 

McKenna,  19,  21 
Gioberto  Borromeo,  Count,  234 
Golden    Bella    in    Convent    Towers, 

39  n. 

Great  Falls,  of  the  Potomac,  25 
Great  Wall  of  China,  237 
Green  Point,  Long   Island,  mission 

at,  117 

Grelle,  Count  le,  322 
Guertin,  Rt.  Rev.  G.   A.,  telegram 

from,  390 

Haifa,  visit  to,  321 

Halifax,  Dominican  mission  in,  289 

Harkins,  Rt.  Rev.  Matthew,  made 
bishop  of  Providence,  208;  per- 
mission of,  298 

Hartford,  Conn.,  Dominican  mis- 
sions at,  98-99,  100,  202,  204,  205, 
223;  retreat  to  diocesan  clergy, 
208-209 

Harty,  Rev.  William  A.,  mission 
for,  204 

Haverhill,  Mass.,  Dominican  mis- 
sion in,  84 

Hawaii,  work  among  lepers  of,  376 

Hawkesyard  Priory,  Rugely,  259 

Hayes,  Rt.  Rev.  Patrick,  auxiliary 
bishop  of  N.  Y.,  requiem  mass 
sung  by,  386 

Hazelton,  Pa.,  Dominican  mission 
in,  288-289 

Heffernan,  Very  Rev.  J.  R.,  prior, 
requiem  mass  sung  by,  385;  let- 
ters to,  389-390 

Hendricken,  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  F., 
bishop  of  Providence,  mission  for, 
95;  friendship  between  Fr.  Mc- 
Kenna and,  98;  death  of,  207 

Henwood,  Frederic  de,  artist,  359 

Herald,  N.  Y.,  188,  189,  190,  192 

Higgins,  Very  Rev.  A.  V.,  provin- 
cial, letters  from,  255,  278-279, 
280 

Hill,  Rev.  John  A.,  52 

Holy  Land,  pilgrimage  to,  316-327 


400 


INDEX. 


Holy  Name,  Manual  of  the,  109, 
110,  164 

Holy  Name  Journal,  341,  342,  345 
n.,  377-378 

Holy  Name  Society,  Fr.  McKenna's 
labors  for,  ix,  103,  108-110,  121, 
132,  136,  144,  145,  164,  166,  168, 
169,  178-181,  186,  187,  193,  195, 
198-199,  220,  239,  240,  247-248, 
253,  257,  265,  277-280,  283-284, 
285,  292-305,  312,  315,  337-347, 

354,  355-359,    369-370,    376,    377, 
378,  392;  propagation  of,  91,  156; 
junior    branch,    137,    343-344; 
branch  for  negroes,  168;  commu- 
nion of,  173-174;  constitution  re- 
stricting, 180-181,  277,  280;   good 
accomplished    by,    340-341;    con- 
gress,    344-346;     demonstrations, 

355,  356-359;    retreat    for,    369- 
370;    at   Fr.    McKenna's    funeral, 
383,  384,  385,  386,  387 

Holy    Rosary   Church,   Minneapolis, 

mission  in,  233 

Holy  Sepulcher,  visit  to,  326-327 
Honorius  III,  letter  of,  71n. 
Hopewell,    N.    J.,    retreat   to    Holy 

Name  men  of,  370 
How  to  Make  the  Mission,  121, 122  n. 
Hughes,  Most  Rev.  John,  archbishop 

of  New  York,  87 
Hughes,  Rev.   Nicholas  J.,  mission 

for,  201-202 
Humbert  de  Roman  is,  80;  De  Vita 

Regulari,  71n. 
Hyacinth,  St.,  42,  80;  biographical 

sketch,  236-237 

Hyde  Park,  Mass.,  Dominican  mis- 
sion in,  202 
Hynes,  Rt.  Rev.  John  T.,  bishop  of 

Zante,  52 

Immaculate  Conception,  Church  of, 

Jerusalem,  325 
Immaculate  Conception,  Church  of, 

Lawrence,  Mass.,  mission  at,  84- 

85 


Immaculate  Conception,  Church  of 
N.  Y.,  mission  at,  85-86 

Immaculate  Conception,  Church  of, 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  Holy  Name  and 
Rosary  societies  of,  179 

Immaculate  Conception,  Church  of, 
Salem,  Mass.,  mission  at,  103 

Immaculate  Conception,  Church  of, 
Waterbury,  Conn.,  missions  at, 
95-97,  204 

Immaculate  Conception,  Dominican 
college,  Washington,  D.  C.,  cler- 
ical students  transferred  to,  225n.; 
seventh  centenary  celebration  at, 
264,  380;  Fr.  McKenna  at,  357, 
372-374,  377-378,  380-381;  por- 
trait in,  361;  meeting  of  superiors 
at,  381 

Immaculate  Conception,  National 
Shrine  of,  Catholic  University, 
377-378 

Indians,  missions,  33,  39 

Indulgences,  Congregation  of,  277, 
280 

Infallibility  of  the  Church,  lecture 
on,  281 

Ireland,  condition  of  Catholics  in, 
3-1;  Dominicans  in,  17;  visits  to, 
119,  120,  210,  259,  332-333;  lec- 
tures on,  184-185,  253,  254,  362 

Italy,  tour  through,  330 

Jacksonville,  visit  to,  381-382 

Jaffa,  visit  to,  322 

Jandel,  Most  Rev.  Vincent  A.,  Mas- 
ter General,  48,  124;  ideals  of,  71- 
72,  73;  permission  of,  125-126 

Jaquin,  Pere,  Le  Frere  Precheur, 
48n. 

Jarboe,  Father  Joseph  T.,  president 
of  Sinsinawa  Mound,  34,  35,  37, 
39 

Jeanette,  vessel,  188,  189,  192 

Jehosaphat,  Valley  of,  326 

Jericho,  visit  to,  326 

Jerusalem,  visit  to,  323-327;  walls 
of,  325 


INDEX. 


401 


John  the  Baptist,  parents  of,  325 
Jordan  of  Saxony,  80 
Jordan  River,  visit  to,  326 
Juniata,  vessel,  188 

Kearney,  John  Watts,  altar  donated 
by,  167 

Kearney,  Very  Rev.  L.  F.,  provin- 
cial, appreciation  by,  283-284,286 

Keenan,  Rev.  Bernard,  25 

Kelly,  Very  Rev.  Joseph  A.,  pro- 
vincial, 35 

Kennedy,  Archbishop  Thomas  F., 
rector  of  American  College, 
Rome,  329 

Kentucky,  Dominicans  in,  24,  157- 
161,  244;  Father  Tom  Burke  in, 
124 

Kilkee,  visit  to,  259 

Knights  of  Columbus,  185,  186 

Know-nothing  movement,  26-27,  30 

Konigmacher  and  McCormack,  25 

Konski,  Count  of  (Eustachius 
Odrowacz),  236 

Lacordaire,  Pere,  Inner  Life  of, 
60;  work  of,  71,  72;  Foisset's  Vie, 
72n.;  ideals  of,  75;  eloquence  of, 
80,  348 

Lagrange,  Father  Joseph,  325 

Lancaster,  Pa.,  Gillespies  in,  19,  21; 
Fr.  McKenna's  life  in,  23,  25,  27- 
28,  29 ;  Know-nothing  party  in,  27 

Lane,  Rev.  William  J.,  mission  for, 
117 

Lanka,  Castle  of,  236 

Larroca,  Most  Rev.  Joseph,  Master 
General,  visitation  of,  172,  173, 
174;  preachers  general  created 
by,  174-175 

Las  Casas,  Fr.  Bartholomew  de,  80, 
183 

Lavelle,  Rt.  Rev.  Mgr.  Michael  J., 
and  Fr.  McKenna's  funeral,  386 

Lavialle,  Rt.  Rev.  Peter  J.,  bishop 
of  Louisville,  158,  159 


Lawrence,  Mass.,  Dominican  mis- 
sion in,  84 

Lawrence  Sentinel,  cited,  84 

Lebanon,  Ky.,  94 

Leo  XIII,  audiences  with,  217,  257, 
258;  desires  to  make  Fr.  McKenna 
bishop,  217;  restriction  of  Holy 
Name  and  Rosary  societies  re- 
moved by,  277,  280;  quoted,  293, 
295 

Lepidi,  Most  Rev.  Albert,  Master 
of  the  Sacred  Palace,  329 

Lilly,  Very  Rev.  Hugh  F.,  made 
preacher  general,  174;  celebration 
in  honor  of,  361-362 

Lilly,  Very  Rev.  Michael  D.,  prior, 
41,  48;  elected  provincial,  174; 
letter  from,  175 

Logan,  Rev.  Bernard  F.,  at  Fr.  Mc- 
Kenna's funeral,  387 

London,  visit  to,  258 

Londonderry,  22 

Loras,  Rt.  Rev.  Matthias,  bishop  of 
Dubuque,  34 

Louis  of  Granada,  Venerable,  work 
translated,  184 

Louisville,  Ky.,  Dominicans  in,  157- 
161,  194,  218,  233,  244 

Lourdes,  pilgrimages  to,  119-120, 
210,  330-332 

Louth  Co.,  Ireland,  McKennas  of,  4 

Lowell,  Mass.,  Dominican  mission 
in,  194 

Lucerne,  visit  to,  212 

Lurach,  St.,  patron  of  Maghera,  1 

Lynch,  Rev.  James,  mission  for,  117 

Lynn,  Mass.,  Dominican  mission  in, 
194 

Lyons,  Province  of,  72 

McArdle,  Thomas  E.,  letter  of,  64-66 
McCabe,  Rev.  John,  of  St.  John's, 

Providence,  150 

McCann,  Walter  E.,  cited,  287-288 
McCarthy,    Mi»»    Eliza,    letters    to, 

320-321,324-325,  327,  329-330,331 
McCloskey,   John    Cardinal,    request 

made  to,  87;  approval  of  church 


402 


INDEX. 


for  negroes,  113;  approval  of 
work  among  poor,  115;  Fr.  Mc- 
Kenna  selected  to  preach  by,  189, 
191 

McCloskey,  Rt.  Rev.  William  G., 
made  bishop  of  Louisville,  159- 
160 

McClure,  James,  29n. 

McClure,  Matilda  (McKenna),  sis- 
ter of  Fr.  McKenna,  20,  5T;  mar- 
riage, 29n. 

McCormack,  of  Konigmacher  and 
McCormack,  25 

McCort,  Rt.  Rev.  John  J.,  auxiliary 
bishop  of  Philadelphia,  at  Fr. 
McKenna's  funeral,  387 

McDevitt,  Rt.  Rev.  Philip  R.,  bishop 
of  Harrisburg,  appreciation  by, 
286 

McDonald,  Anna  (Gillespie), 
mother  of  Charles  McKenna,  3, 6; 
character,  9-11;  education,  14,16; 
as  a  widow,  17-19;  comes  to 
America,  19-20,  21;  moves  to 
Iowa,  29;  visits  from  son,  40,  61- 
62;  mentioned,  57;  death  of,  77 

McDonald,  John,  grandfather  of 
Fr.  McKenna,  7 

McDonald,  John,  great-grandfather 
of  Fr.  McKenna,  6-7 

McDonald  family,  history  of,  6-7 

McDonnell,  Rt.  Rev.  Charles  E., 
bishop  of  Brooklyn,  approval  of 
Holy  Name  Society,  356 

McDonnell,  Rev.  John  T.,  mission 
for,  84 

McDonnell,  P.  F.,  letters  to,  327- 
328,  331-332,  376 

McFeeley,  Brother  Antonius,  letter 
to,  63-64 

McGlynn,  Rev.  Dr.  Edward,  appeal 
of,  87;  interest  in  colored  Catho- 
lics, 112-113 

McGovern,  Rev.  James  B.,  35;  mis- 
sion by,  96 

McGuire,  Rev.  Robert  J.,  mission 
for,  117-118 


Machebeuf,  Rt.  Rev.  Joseph  P., 
bishop  of  Denver,  clerical  retreat 
for,  221 

McKenna,  Alexander,  brother  of 
Fr.  McKenna,  20,  25,  26,  27,  29, 
29n.,  30,  57 

McKenna,  Rev.  Bernard  A.,  cousin, 
letters  to,  286,  374-375,  389;  diary 
of  pilgrimage,  317-334;  at  Phila- 
delphia reception,  359;  at  Fr. 
McKenna's  funeral,  386 

McKenna,  Bridget,  sister,  3 

McKenna,  Catherine,  sister,  see 
Dougherty,  Catherine  (McKenna) 

McKenna,  Charles,  brother,  3 

McKenna,  Rev.  Charles  H.,  birth, 
3;  baptism,  4;  lineage,  3-7;  early 
education,  14-17,  18;  vocation, 
16-17;  comes  to  America,  22-23; 
as  a  stonecutter,  24-25,  27,  29- 
31;  at  college,  37-40;  novitiate, 
40-47;  religious  profession,  47- 
49;  clerical  student,  52-60 ;  letters 
from,  57-58,  63-64,  151-153,  249- 
250,  293-294,  297-298,  320-321, 
324-325,  327,  328,  329-330,  331- 
332,  345,  362,  367-368,  374-375, 
376,  380;  ordination,  61,  306;  mas- 
ter of  novices,  62-66,  76;  mis- 
sions, 93-104,  116-118,  121,  132- 
136,  143-144,  150-151,  162,  163- 
164,  167-168,  175,  178-179,  181- 
182,  183,  193-209,  218-224,  232- 
233,  242-252,  255,  273-290,  314- 
315,  335-337,  350;  lectures,  104- 
106,  149,  184-185,  186,  253-254, 
275,  281,  358,  362-365;  publica- 
tions, 109,  110,  121,  122n.,  137, 
138,  164,  184,  341,  342,  351,  377; 
abroad,  119-120,  210-217,  255- 
259,  316-334;  prior  of  St.  Louis 
Bertrand's,  161-1 70;  appreciations 
of.  168-170,  205-206,  283-286, 
307-314,  389-394;  made  preacher 
general,  174-177;  made  head  of 
eastern  missions,  177-178;  men- 
tioned for  bishopric,  207-208,  217; 


INDEX. 


403 


prior  of  St.  Joseph's,  224-233; 
interest  in  vocations,  229,  230, 
266-272,  282,  351-352,  366-368, 
378-379,  390;  devotion  to  patron 
saints,  234, 238-241 ;  resigns  as  head 
of  the  missions,  251 ;  his  friend- 
ships, 261-266;  as  an  American 
citizen,  290-291;  director  of  Holy 
Name  and  Rosary  societies,  292- 
305;  celebrations  in  honor  of, 
359-362;  an  invalid,  371-381; 
death,  382;  funeral  and  burial, 
383-389;  see  also  Holy  Name  So- 
ciety; Rosary  Confraternity 

McKenna,  Francis,  father  of 
Charles,  3;  position  and  charac- 
ter of,  8-9,  14;  death  of,  9-10 

McKenna,  Rev.  James  J.,  cousin,  at 
Fr.  McKenna's  funeral,  386 

McKenna,  John,  brother,  19,  22,  57; 
emigration  and  death  of,  29n. 

McKenna,  Father  John,  pastor  of 
Maghera,  4,  9,  10,  13;  death  of, 
13n. 

McKenna,  Master  John,  letter  to, 
362 

McKenna,  Margaret,  sister  of 
Charles,  3 

McKenna,  Mary,  sister,  see  Cassidy, 
Mary  (McKenna) 

McKenna,  Matilda,  sister,  see  Mc- 
Clure,  Matilda  (McKenna) 

McKenna,  Neil,  brother,  20,  58; 
death  of,  29n. 

McKenna,  Miss  Rose,  cousin,  poem 
read  by,  360 

McKenna  family,  history  of,  4-7 

McLaughlin,  Brother  John,  death 
and  funeral  of,  77,  78 

McMahon,  Very  Rev.  A.  L.,  ac- 
knowledgment, 259n. 

McMahon,  Rt.  Rev.  Lawrence  S., 
bishop  of  Hartford,  missions  for, 
100,  204,  220-221;  Dominicans  in 
diocese  of,  205;  clerical  retreat 
for,  208-209 


McMahon,  Rev.  P.  H.,  letter  con- 
cerning mission  for,  274-275 

McMaster,  James  J.,  editor,  102, 
199;  see  also  Freeman's  Journal 

McNabb,  Very  Rev.  Vincent,  poem 
by,  362 

McNamara,  Father  Robert,  appre- 
ciation by.  309,  311;  at  Fr.  Mc- 
Kenna's funeral,  387 

McNicholas,  Rev.  John  T.,  letter  to, 
345;  sermon  by,  361 

Macon,  France,  visit  to,  258 

Madrid,  visit  to,  256 

Maghera,  description  and  history, 
1-2;  visits  to,  259,  333 

Mamertine  Prison,  Rome,  216 

Mandonnet,  Father,  article  by,  71  n. 

Manual  of  the  Holy  Name,  gee 
Holy  Name,  Manual  of 

Margherita  de  Medici,  234 

Marriage,  lectures  on,  253;  see  also 
next  entry 

Marriage  and  Divorce,  lecture  on, 
184,  186,  253,  275 

Marseilles,  visit  to,  330 

Martin,  Rev.  Thomas,  52,  87 

Martini,  Raymond,  80 

Mary's  Well,  visit  to,  322 

Massachusetts,  Dominican  missions 
in,  143-144;  see  also  names  of 
places 

Mate,  Rt.  Rev.  Nicholas  C.,  bishop 
of  Denver,  clerical  retreat  for, 
221 

Mazzuchelli,  Father  Samuel  C.,  fame 
of,  32;  college  founded  by,  33- 
34;  zeal  of,  39,  80,  218;  Memoirs, 
39n. 

Meagher,  Rev.  D.  J.,  in  Louisville, 
159,  160 

Meagher,  Very  Rev.  James  R.,  pro- 
vincial, biography  requested  by, 
vii;  letters  to,  380,  389;  sermon 
at  Fr.  McKenna's  funeral,  387 

Memphis,  Tenn.,  Dominican  mis- 
sions in,  144,  194,  223,  281 


404 


INDEX. 


Mexico,  Dominicans  of,  316 

Middletown,  Conn.,  Dominican  mis- 
sions at,  98-100,  117 

Milan,  visit  to,  213 

Miles,  Rt.  Rev.  Richard  P.,  bishop 
of  Nashville,  52 

Milwaukee,  Wis.,  mission  in  cathe- 
dral of,  244 

Minerva,  Rome,  215,  216 

Minneapolis,  Minn.,  Dominican  mis- 
sions in,  233,  245 

Missions,  see  names  of  churches  and 
places 

Monaghan  Co.,  Ireland,  McKennas 
of,  4 

Monitor,  N.  J.,  quoted,  391-393 

Monitor,  San  Francisco,  cited,  178 

Monsabre,  Pere,  eloquence  of,  80 

Monte  Cassino,  Benedictine  abbey 
of,  327 

Montesinos,  Anthony  de,  80 

Montgomery,  Rev.  Charles  P.,  52 

Montgomery,  Rev.  Samuel  L.,  52 

Montreal,  Canada,  Dominican  mis- 
sion in,  289 

Montreal,  France,  visit  to,  210 

Morris,  John  T.,  cited,  287 

Morrogh  Rev.  Dr.  William  P.,  mis- 
sion for,  85-86;  appeal  of,  87 

Most  Precious  Blood,  Church  of, 
Hyde  Park,  Mass.,  mission  in,  202 

ML  Carmel,  visit  to,  321,  322 

Mullahy,  Brother  Dominic,  379,383 

Mufios,  Rev.  Raphael,  52 

Murphy,  Father  Joseph  T.,  mission 
by,  205 

Naples,  visits  to,  256,  319,  327 

Nativity,  Church  of  the,  Brooklyn, 
mission  in,  201 

Nativity,  Church  of  the,  Philadel- 
phia, mission  in,  284,  286 

Nativity,  Grotto  of,  visit  to,  325 

Nazareth  visit  to,  322 

Negroes,  church  planned  for,  111- 
114;  Holy  Name  Society  for,  168; 
mission  for,  223 


New  Bedford,  Mass.,  Dominican 
mission  in,  204 

New  Brighton,  Staten  Island,  Do- 
minican mission  in,  240 

Newburg,  Mass.,  Dominican  mis- 
sion in,  222 

Newburyport,  Mass.,  Dominican 
mission  in,  194 

New  Haven,  Conn.,  Dominican  mis- 
sions at,  98-99,  100,  202,  223,  233 

Newport,  R.  I.,  Dominican  mission 
in,  194 

New  York,  Dominican  missions  in, 
101,  117;  see  also  names  of  places 

New  York  City,  Dominican  missions 
in,  82-84,  85-86,  101,117,193,194, 
200,  201-202,209,219,  222;  church 
planned  for  colored  Catholics  in, 
111-114;  Dominican  Sisters  among 
poor  of,  111,  114-116;  Father 
Tom  Burke  in,  124,  125,  128,  160- 
161 ;  centennial  celebration  of  dio- 
cese of,  264-265;  Holy  Name 
rally  in,  356 

"  Night  of  the  Big  Wind,"  12 

Nilan,  Rt.  Rev.  John  J.,  bishop  of 
Hartford,  at  Fr.  McKenna's  fu- 
neral, 387 

North  Pole,  expedition  to,  188-189 

Northrop,  Dr.  Charles  H.,  address 
by,  360 

Norway,  Hyacinth's  labors  in,  237 

Notre  Dame  University,  retreat  at, 
290 

O'Brien,  Rev.  E.  J.,  mission  for,  100 

O'Brien,  Rev.  Matthew  A.,  influ- 
ence of,  60;  parish  organized  by, 
158 

O'Brien,  Judge  Morgan  J.,  appre- 
ciation by,  311-314,  394 

O'Carroll,  Rt.  Rev.  William  D., 
work  as  provincial,  72-73,  82, 158, 
159,  160;  auxiliary  bishop  of 
Trinidad,  73n. 

O'Connell,  W.  Cardinal,  apprecia- 
tion by,  308-309 


INDEX. 


405 


O'Daniel,  Very  Rev.  V.  F.,  Friar* 
Preacher,  71n.;  articles  in  Catho- 
lic Historical  Review,  319n. 

O'Doherty,  Judge  Matthew,  appre- 
ciation by,  168-170 

Odrowacz,  Eustachius,  see  Konski 

Odrowacz,  Rev.  Ivo,  236 

Ohio,  Dominicans  in,  24,  81,  244; 
beginnings  of  Catholicity  in,  53- 
54;  Father  Tom  Burke  in,  124; 
see  also  names  of  places 

Ohio  State  Penitentiary,  Holy  Name 
Society  established  in,  355 

O'Leary,  Rev.  Daniel  J.,  52 

Oliphant,  Pa.,  Dominican  mission 
at,  181-182 

Olivet,  Mt,  visits  to,  325-326 

Ollivier,  Le  Pere   Chocarne,   72n. 

O'Loan,  — ,  schoolmaster,  14 

O'Mahoney,  Father  Jeremias  C., 
mission  by,  195 

Omar,  Mosque  of,  visit  to,  326 

O'Neil,  Father  James  L.,  missions 
by,  195,  203,  205 

Orangemen,  9,   17n. 

Oratorians,  church  of,  Rome,  216 

Order  of  Preachers,  see  Dominicans 

O'Reilly,  Rev.  Edward,  mission  for, 
133 

O'Rorke,  Rev.  P.,  mission  for,  182 

Orsini,  Napoleon,  237 

Our  Lady  of  the  Rosary,  church  of, 
Boston,  mission  in,  219 

Our  Mother  of  Sorrows,  Church  of, 
Philadelphia,  mission  in,  209 

Paris,  visit  to,  258 

Paris,  Province  of,  72 

Patrick,  St.,  lecture  on,  363-365 

Paul,  Venerable,  80 

Pavia,  University  of,  234 

Peabody,  Mass.,  Dominican  mission 

in,  202 
Pennsylvania,    Dominicans    in,    24; 

see  also  names  of  places 
Peter  Martyr,  St.,  altar  of,  213 
Philadelphia,    Pa.,    arrival    of    Fr. 


McKenna  in,  22-23;  Know-noth- 
ing party  in,  27;  Dominican  mis- 
sions in,  202,  203-204,  209,  222, 
223,  233,  243-244,  255,  284-286; 
Holy  Name  and  Rosary  societies 
in,  248;  celebration  in  honor  of 
Fr.  McKenna  in,  359-361 

Philip  Neri,  St.,  altar  of,  216;  re- 
semblance to,  240 

Pilate,  house  of,  323 

Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  Holy  Name  rally 
in,  356-359 

Pius  IV,  234,  235 

Pius  V,  St.,  room  of,  216 

Pius  X,  pontifical  letters  of,  146; 
audiences  with,  329;  blessing  of, 
345;  decree  regarding  commu- 
nion, 346 

Poland,  Hyacinth's  labors  in,  237 

Polaris,  vessel,  188 

Pompeii,  visit  to,  256 

Ponta  Delgoda,  318 

Pope,  Friar  Preacher  Yesterday 
and  Today,  48n.,  71  n. 

Port  Said,  visit  to,  321 

Potter,  Bishop  Henry  C.,  192 

Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.,  lecture  at,  105 

Prague,  University  of,  236 

Prato,  Italy,  visit  to,  217 

Prendergast,  Most  Rev.  Edmond 
F.,  archbishop  of  Philadelphia, 
mission  for,  203;  appreciation  by, 
284-285 

Priests,  lecture  on  power  to  forgive 
sins,  281 

Prophets,  Tombs  of  the,  visit  to,  325 

Prouille,  visit  to,  210 

Providence,  R.  I.,  Dominican  mis- 
sions in,  202,  207 

Purcell,  Most  Rev.  John  B.,  arch- 
bishop of  Cincinnati,  54;  Fr.  Mc- 
Kenna ordained  by,  61,  306 

Pyramids,  visit  to,  320 

Queenstown,  Ireland,  119,  333 
Queiif-Echard,    Scriptoret    Ordinit 
Praedicatorvm,  71n. 


406 


INDEX. 


Quigley,  Rt.  Rev.  James  E.,  conse- 
crated bishop  of  Buffalo,  281 

Qulnlan,  Rt.  Rev.  John,  bishop  of 
Mobile,  61 

Rachel,  Tomb  of,  visit  to,  325 
Ralph,  Father  Hugh  P.,  preaching 

of,  82;  paralyzed,  88 
Randall,  James  R.,  in  Third  Order 

of  St.  Dominic,  276 
Raymacker,  Rev.  John  V.  de,  52 
Reparatrice,  Sisters  of,  visit  to  con- 
vent of,  326 

Republic,  British  steamship,  318 
Roche,  Alan  de  la,  348 
Rome,  visits  to,  211,  212,   214-217, 

256-258,  277,  327-330 
Rosary,  in  Dominican  missions,  90- 

91 

Rosary,  the  Crown  of  Mary,  110 
Rosary  Chapel,  Venice,  213 
Rosary      Confraternity,      Fr.      Mc- 
Kenna's  work  for,  ix,  121, 132, 145, 
164,    166,    178-181,   186,   187,    193, 
195,   239,  247-248,   253,   257,  277- 
280,    283-284,    285,    292-305,    311, 
312,   315,   347-351,   354,   356,   376, 
392;   growth  of,   156;  restrictions 
governing,  180-181,  277,  280 
Rosary  of  the  Dead,  confraternity, 

166 

Russia,  Hyacinth's  labors  in,  237 
Ryan,  Most  Rev.  Patrick  J^  arch- 
bishop   of    Philadelphia,    funeral 
of,  266 

St.  Agnes'  Church,  Brooklyn,  mis- 
sion in,  195-196;  retreat  to  Holy 
Name  Society  of,  198-199 

St  Andrew's,  Cologne,  212 

St.  Ann's,  Brooklyn,  mission  in,  201, 
909 
in,  201,  202 

St.  Ann's,  Philadelphia,  mission  at, 
255 

St.  Augustine's  Church,  South  Bos- 
ton, mission  in,  194-195 


St.  Benedict  the  Moor,  N.  Y.,  mis- 
sion in  church  of,  223 

St.  Catherine's  Academy,  Spring- 
field, Ky.,  29n.,  62 

St.  Charles,  Province  of,  34 

St  Charles  College,  Ellicott  City, 
Md.,  368 

St.  Clement,  Church  of,  Bankston 
Settlement,  la.,  62 

St.  Dominic,  Order  of,  see  Domini- 
cans 

St  Dominic,  Third  Order  of,  Fr. 
McKenna's  work  for,  111,  115, 
182,  193,  253,  276,  369 

St  Dominic's  Church,  Bologna,  214 

St.  Dominic's  Church,  Springfield, 
Ky.,  Fr.  McKenna  appointed  pas- 
tor of,  78;  mission  at,  95;  colored 
members  of,  112 

St.  Dominic's  Church,  Washington, 
D.  C.,  mission  in,  202 

St.  Dominic's  Tertiaries'  Guide,  164 

St.  Edward's,  Philadelphia,  Holy 
Name  and  Rosary  societies  estab- 
lished in,  295-296 

St.  Francis  de  Sales,  Boston,  mis- 
sion in,  201 

St.  Gabriel's,  Hazelton,  Pa.,  mission 
in,  288-289 

St.  Gothard  Tunnel,  212 

St  Gregory's,  Haverhill,  Mass.,  mis- 
sion in,  84-85 

St  James',  Salem,  Mass.,  missions 
at  151,  219 

St.  Januarius,  cathedral  of,  Naples, 
319 

St  John's,  Clinton,  Mass.,  Holy 
Name  and  Rosary  societies  of, 
179 

St.  John's,  Peabody,  Mass.,  mission 
in,  202 

St.  John's,  Utica,  mission  at  118 

Sts.  John  and  Paul  church  and  con- 
vent, Venice,  213 

St.  John  the  Baptist  church  of, 
Ain  Karim,  323 

St.  Joseph,  Province  of,  34,  174 


INDEX. 


407 


St  Joseph's,  Boston,  missions  in, 
201,  308-309 

St  Joseph's,  N.  Y,  pastor  of,  113 

St.  Joseph's,  Somerville,  Mass.,  Holy 
Name  and  Rosary  societies  of,  179 

St.  Joseph's  Priory,  Somerset,  O., 
college  attached  to,  24;  Fr.  Mc- 
Kenna's  novitiate  at,  40,  52,  54, 
55;  life  of  novices  at,  45-47; 
first  church  in  Ohio  at,  53;  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  56-57;  suspension 
of,  82;  Fr.  McKenna  in  charge  of, 
151;  Fr.  McKenna  as  prior  of, 
224-233;  visits  to,  374 

St  Joseph's  Seminary,  Troy,  re- 
treat at,  220 

St.  Lawrence's,  New  Bedford,  lec- 
ture in,  363-365 

St  Louis,  Mo.,  courthouse,  31 

St  Louis  Bertrand's,  Louisville, 
Ky.,  Fr.  McKenna  master  of  pro- 
fessed novices,  62;  visit  to,  94; 
Fr.  McKenna  as  prior,  109,  161- 
170;  lecture  for,  128n.;  erection 
of,  159-161 ;  aid  given  by  Fr.  Tom 
Burke  to,  160-161;  altars,  232; 
missions  in,  218,  244 

St  Lurach,  church  and  well  of, 
Maghera,  1-2 

St  Malachy's,  Philadelphia,  mis- 
sions in,  202,  203-204,  284-285 

St  Mark's  Cathedral,  Venice,  213 

St  Mary's,  Baltimore,  mission  in, 
287-288 

St  Mary's,  Jerusalem,  326 

St.  Mary's,  Lancaster,  Pa.,  25 

St.    Mary's,    Newburg,    mission    in, 

222 

St  Mary's,  New  Haven,  Dominicans 
in   charge  of,    100,   204-205,   206; 
missions  at  98-99,  100,  202 
St  Mary's,  N.  Y.,  mission  in,  201 
St.  Mary's,  Troy,  mission  in,  219 
St.  Mary's,  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  mission 

in,  202 

St.  Mary's  Academy,  Somerset,  O., 
destroyed  by  fire,  59 


St  Mary's  Cathedral,  Antwerp,  212 

St  Mary's  College,  Ky.,  158 

St.  Patrick's,  Augusta,  mission  in, 
273-276 

St  Patrick's,  Boston,  mission  in, 
201 

St.  Patrick's,  Fall  River,  mission  in, 
202 

St  Patrick's,  N.  Y.,  funeral  services 
of  Jerome  J.  Collins  in,  189; 
Christmas  sermon  in,  219;  centen- 
nial celebration  in,  265;  Fr.  Mc- 
Kenna's  funeral  from,  386-388 

St.  Patrick's,  Troy,  mission  at,  118 

St.  Paul's,  Antwerp,  212 

St  Paul's,  Brooklyn,  missions  at, 
117-118,  133-134,  135-136 

St.  Paul's,  Rome,  216 

St.  Paul's  Monastery,  Valladolid, 
316 

St  Peter's,  Hartford,  mission  at, 
98-99 

St.  Peter's,  New  Brighton,  mission 
in,  240 

St.  Peter's,  Poughkeepsie,  lecture 
for,  105 

St  Peter's,  Rome,  214,  216 

St  Philip's,  Philadelphia,  mission 
at,  244 

St.  Raphael's,  N.  Y.,  missions  in, 
209,  219,  220 

St  Raymond's,  Providence,  R.  I., 
lecture  in,  362 

St.  Rose's  Priory,  Springfield,  Ky., 
Fr.  McKenna  at  54,  59,  60,  61, 
93;  missions  at,  95,  167-168;  col- 
ored members  of,  111-112;  erec- 
tion of,  157;  students  returned  to, 
160 

St    Saviour's    Priory,    Dublin,    lec- 
tures   for,    128n. 
St.  Sebastian,  cathedral  of,  318 
St.  Sernin,  cathedral  of,  210 
St  Sixtus,  Rome,  215 
St.  Stephen's,  Brooklyn,  missions  at, 
133,  162 


408 


INDEX. 


St.  Stephen's,  Jerusalem,  visits  to, 
323,  324,  325,  326 

St.  Stephen's,  N.  Y.,  mission  in, 
219-220 

St.  Thomas',  seminary  of,  Ky.,  158, 
159 

St.  Thomas  Aquinas',  Brooklyn, 
mission  in,  209 

St.  Thomas  of  Aquin,  sodality  of, 
see  Angelic  Warfare 

St.  Vincent  de  Paul's,  Brooklyn, 
mission  in,  201 

St.  Vincent  Ferrer's,  N.  Y.,  founda- 
tion of,  79,  87-88;  Holy  Name 
Society,  103,  109,  119,  132,  144, 
173-174,  193;  sermons  by  Father 
Tom  Burke  in,  125;  Rosary  Con- 
fraternity, 132,  193;  daily  com- 
munions in,  146;  Fr.  McKenna's 
residence  at,  167,  171,  240,  305; 
meeting  of  Dominican  superiors 
at,  174;  lecture  in,  186;  missions 
in,  193,  222,  223;  celebration  in 
honor  of  Fr.  McKenna,  361-362; 
body  of  Fr.  McKenna  at,  383- 
385,  393;  Fr.  McKenna's  funeral 
from,  385,  386 

St.  Vincent  Ferrer's  Union,  see  Do- 
minican Lyceum 

Salem,  Mass.,  Dominican  missions 
in,  104,  151,  219 

San  Clemente,  Rome,  Dominicans 
of,  215 

San  Diego,  Cal.,  visit  to,  349 

San  Domenico's,  Naples,  319 

San  Eustorgio,  church  of,  213 

San  Francisco,  visit  to,  349 

Santa  Maria  la  Coronata,  cathedral 
of,  Gibraltar,  319 

Santa  Sabina,  Rome,  215,  216,  237 

Scully,  Rev.  M.  J.,  296 

Seattle,  visit  to,  349 

Seville,  visit  to,  256 

Shahan,  Rt.  Rev.  Thomas  J.,  rector 
of  Catholic  University,  apprecia- 
tions by,  205-206,  209,  389; 
quoted,  264 


Shanahan,  Rt.  Rev.  John  W.,  bishop 
of  Harrisburg,  mission  for,  209 

Shane  Crossagh,  exploit  of,  3 

Sheridan,  Father  James  A.,  master 
of  novices,  44,  62 

Sinner's  Guide,  184 

Sinsinawa  Mound,  Wis.,  32;  found- 
ed, 33;  Fr.  McKenna  at,  34,  37- 
40,  56,  57;  visit  of  provincial  to, 
35;  closed,  82 

Sisters  of  Charity,  Jacksonville, 
Fla.,  382 

Sisters  of  Loretto,  Denver,  retreat 
for,  245 

Sisters  of  Mercy,  Pittsburgh,  357, 
358-359 

Slinger,  Very  Rev.  J.  H.,  prior,  95 

Smyth,  Rt.  Rev.  Clement  T.,  bishop 
coadjutor  of  Dubuque,  34,  35 

Soldiers'  Home,  Washington,  D.  C., 
378 

Somerset,  O.,  birth  of  Catholicity 
in  Ohio  at,  53;  see  also  St.  Jo- 
seph's Priory 

Spain,  visit  to,  255-256 

Spalding,  Rev.  Dr.  B.  J.,  adminis- 
trator, 159 

Spalding,  Rt.  Rev.  Martin  J.,  bishop 
of  Louisville,  38 

Sparkill,  N.  Y.,  Dominican  Sisters 
of,  335,  374 

Sphinx  of  Gheezeh,  visit  to,  320 

Springfield,  Ky.,  Dominican  mission 
in,  194;  see  also  St.  Rose's  Priory 

Standard,  New  Bedford,  quoted, 
363-365 

Stephen,  Plain  of,  visit  to,  325 

Stephana,  Sister,  niece  of  Fr.  Mc- 
Kenna, 29n. 

Stone,  Eng.,  Dominican  Sisters  of* 
259 

Strasburg,  visit  to,  212 

Stuart,  Prince  Charles,  in  Scot- 
land, 6 

Superior,  ship,  22 

Sweden,  Hyacinth's  labors  in,  237 


INDEX. 


409 


Taaffe,    Father   James    D.,    mission 

for,  84 

Tablet,  New  York,  quoted,  95-97 
Tabor,  Mt.,  322 
Tallaght,  tomb  of  Fr.   Tom  Burke 

at,  129,  259;  visit  to,  333 
Tanquerey,  Father,  Synopsis   Theo- 

logiae  Oeneralis,  122n. 
Tennessee,  Dominicans  in,  24 
Teresa,  St.,  birthplace,  256 
Thomas  of  Aquin,  St.,  Fr.  McKen- 

na's  devotion  to,  17,  23,  129;  habit 

of,   35,   36;   labors,  80;   relics   of, 

210,  330;  handwriting  of,  327 
Tirkane,  McKennas  of,  5;  school  at, 

18 

Tivoli,  visit  to,  257 
Toronto,  Holy  Name  parade,  355 
Toulouse,  visits  to,  210,  330 
Transfiguration,  Church  of,   N.  Y., 

mission  at,  82-84 
Treanor,  Rev.  Thomas,  mission  for, 

82-84;  appeal  of,  87 
Treasures  of  the  Rosary,  351 
Trent,  Council  of,  235 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  Dominican  missions  in, 

118,  219,  223,  233 
Tuite,  Father  William  R.,  60 
Turner,  Rev.  Jeremiah  P.,  missions 

by,     96,     162,     182,     195;     made 

preacher  general,  174 
Tyang,  Dr.,  276 
Tyrone  Co.,  Ireland,  McKennas  of, 

4,  5 

Ulster,  McDonalds  of,  6 
Utica,  N.  Y.,  mission  at,  118 

Van  den  Broek,  Father  John  T.,  39; 

Story  of,  39n. 

Vanutelli,  Seraphin  Cardinal,  328 
Vanutelli,  Vincent  Cardinal,  328 
Venice,  visit  to,  213 
Via  Dolorosa,  324,  325,  328 


Vincent  Ferrer,  St.,  80 

Visitation,  Church  of,  Brooklyn, 
mission  at,  162 

Vocations,  Fr.  McKenna's  interest 
in,  229,  230,  266-272,  282,  351- 
352,  366-368,  378-379,  390 

Wailing  of  the  Jews,  Place  of,  326 
Walsh,  Rev.  Canon  T.,  quoted,  85 
Walsh,  Most  Rev.  William  J.,  arch- 
bishop of  Dublin,  211 
Washington,  D.   C.,  Dominicans  at, 
24,  see  also   Immaculate  Concep- 
tion,    Dominican    college;    water 
supply,  25;  early  Dominican  mis- 
sions   around,    81;    Father    Tom 
Burke  in,   124;   missions   in,   144, 
202 

Waterbury,  Conn.,  Dominican  mis- 
sion at,  95-97 

Watertown,  Mass.,  retreat  at,  247 
Watterson,  Rt.  Rev.  John  A.,  bishop 

of  Columbus,  226 
White,  Father  Robert  A.,  visitation 

of,  124 

Wigger,  Rt.  Rev.  Winand  M., 
bishop  of  Newark,  permission  of, 
298-299 

Wilson,  Very  Rev.  G.  A.  J.,  mis- 
sion by,  82-84;  at  St.  Vincent 
Ferrer's,  87 

Wilson,  Father  Samuel  T.,  60 
Wisconsin,   Dominicans   in,   24;   In- 
dian missions,  33,  39 

Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  Dominican  mission 

in,  202 
Young,  Rev.  Nicholas  D.,  52-54,  80 

Zacharias,  visit  to  home  of,  323, 325 ; 

tomb  of,  326 
Zanesville,    O.,    Dominican    mission 

in,  194 


03 


THE  LIBRARY 
JNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


